François Hollande’s dramatic announcement that he will not seek a second term as France’s president has opened the way for the Socialist prime minister, Manuel Valls, to to mount a bid, reports The Guardian.
Valls is expected to swiftly throw his hat into the ring to become the socialist presidential candidate and perhaps resign as prime minister in order to campaign for the party’s primary vote, to be held at the end of January.
The fiery, self-styled law-and-order strongman, who helped craft Hollande’s pro-business reformist line, had for days been pressuring the deeply unpopular Hollande to give up his doomed dream of re-election.
On a visit to the eastern city of Nancy on Friday, Valls praised Hollande’s “statesmanlike” decision to bow out and vowed to personally defend Hollande’s record in office. He said: “The president has my complete respect and affection.”
Valls has for months been suggesting that the bitterly divided French Socialist Party could prove wrong the bleak predictions that it had no hope of even making it through to the final round of next spring’s election.
The presidential vote is looking highly unpredictable and Valls’s own prospects are far from clear-cut.
One flash poll by Harris International after Hollande said he would not run, showed Valls as favourite to win the socialist primary race against the staunchly leftwing former economy minister Arnaud Montebourg.
But surprise socialist candidates could yet emerge before the December 15th deadline. The former justice minister and a figure from French Guianese politics, Christiane Taubira, is being petitioned to run but has not commented. Hollande’s former partner Ségolène Royal, who was beaten in the 2007 presidential election, has been suggested by some, but appeared to brush aside the idea.