| Five candidates standing in the French presidential primaries |
Below Andrew Coates writes former Parti Socialiste PM Valls backs centrist Macron for French presidency. This article first appeared on the blog Tendance Coatesy.
French former Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Wednesday he would vote for centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron rather than Socialist contender Benoît Hamon, who had trounced him in a left-wing primary earlier this year.Valls, a Socialist himself, said the election was wide-open and he would to do all he could to ensure that far-right leader Marine Le Pen, second-placed in Opinion Polls, did not clinch power on May 7."I'm not going to take any risks," Valls told BFM TV.Macron, who quit the Socialist government last year to run as an independent, has drawn support from politicians on both sides of the political spectrum and is favoured by opinion polls to win the election.Valls is only the latest in a string of prominent Socialists who have deserted Hamon, the party's embattled candidate.He had previously pledged to respect the outcome of the primary organised by France's ruling party in January, in which he was surprisingly - and decisively - defeated by Hamon.
More in English: BBC, Guardian,
The latter point is taken up by Libération: Valls sans hésitation, (Valls,....Waltz...without Hesitating...)
Valls avait promis qu’il se soumettrait à la discipline élémentaire de la primaire (sans laquelle elle n’a aucun sens). Il fait exactement le contraire. Un double cas d’école. Ou un Manuel du reniement.Valls had promised to respect the elementary discipline of the Primary (without which the contest would have been senseless). He's done exactly the opposite. A double lesson. Or a Manual (Manuel..) of denial.
Comrade Laurent Joffrin
lists some of the Socialists who have proceeded Valls in the Macron
rush, and cites a previous betrayal in French politics, Chirac's switch
of support from his own party to Giscard in 1974, an act which,
following nomination as PM, allowed the future President to take control
and stab, in turn, Giscard in the back.
Macon, Joffrin notes, is unlikely to reward his renegades so handsomely.
In
the meantime the Socialist Party, whose candidate, Hamon is not doing
at all well in the opinion polls, risks "exploding" under centrifugal
pressure. (il faudrait encore que le PS n’éclate pas sous les poussées
centrifuges des uns et des autres).
More in the latter vein here (le Monde): Valls choisit Macron, quitte à faire imploser le Parti socialiste.
Libé continues, Valls vote Macron et coupe les ponts avec le PS.
Burning his bridges with the Socialists Valls claimed that his support for Macron lay in the dangers represented by the Front National. Briefly. Then he launched into a tirade against the following targets: from the PS candidate Benoît Hamon and his allies, the "frondeurs socialistes", not to mention President François Hollande and the moderate social democrat Martine Aubry who has backed left-winger Hamon.Evoking the 'risks' for France represented by Marine Le Pen Valls declared that his renegacy was justified in terms of his intimate acquaintance with the superior national interest, which is above party, "L’intérêt supérieur de la France va au-delà des règles d’un parti».
Those with a strong stomach can read the full article via the link above.
You can watch Valls make his declaration on BFMTV, "Valls soutient Macron".
