PARIS, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Benoit Hamon, a former Socialist education minister on the left of the party, led in the first round of a primary to pick a Socialist presidential candidate on Sunday, with more moderate ex-prime minister Manuel Valls in second place, partial results showed.

Hamon, 48, who was sacked under the government of President Francois Hollande for criticising his economic policies, had won 35.2 percent of the vote and Valls about 31 percent with just over a third of the total votes counted.

If the final count confirms this result, the two men will go face-to-face in a Jan. 29 runoff to decide who will be the Socialist candidate in the April-May presidential election. </s> Benoit Hamon, a former Socialist education minister on the left of the party, led in the first round of a primary to pick a Socialist presidential candidate on Sunday, with more moderate ex-prime minister Manuel Valls in second place, partial results showed. Hamon, 48, who was sacked under the government of President Francois Hollande for criticizing his economic policies, had won 35.2 percent of the vote and Valls about 31 percent with just over a third of the total votes counted.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Reuters. </s> Paris, Jan 30 (IANS) Former French Prime Minister Benoit Hamon won the Socialist Party’s presidential primary runoff with 58.7 per cent of the votes.

According to preliminary results, his challenger in the runoff on Sunday, Manuel Valls, also a former Prime Minister, obtained 41.4 percent, Efe news reported.

Election organisers announced the results with 60 per cent of the votes counted. A total of 2 million ballots reportedly were cast to determine the Socialist Party’s presidential nominee in the April 23 national election.

Some 4 million people voted in the primaries for the French right.

Meanwhile, Valls acknowledged that Hamon “clearly won” the primary runoff and will be the presidential candidate of the Socialist “political family”. He went on to “warmly congratulate” his rival.

The result constitutes a victory for the candidate representing the more leftist wing of the Socialist Party, the faction critical of current President Francois Hollande, whom Valls has served as Premier and later Interior Minister.

Leading in the voter surveys at present is ultrarightist Marine Le Pen and conservative Francois Fillon, but also ahead of Hamon in the polls is former Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron and leftist radical Jean-Luc Melenchon. </s> PARIS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called on Monday for a big turnout in the second round of the Socialist primaries after a first round vote made left-wing rival Benoit Hamon frontrunner to represent the party in this year's presidential election.

Opinion polls show that no Socialist is likely to win the presidency. They make conservative Francois Fillon the favourite, and put Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front in second place.

But they also show that a victory for Hamon in next Sunday's decisive Socialist primaries second round runoff against Valls could expose the centre ground to which Valls hopes to appeal, and thereby boost the presidential prospects of independent centrist Emmanuel Macron.

"To all those voters who believe in the Left, do not despair, mobilise," Valls said on RTL Radio. Late on Sunday he said the choice between Hamon and himself was one of "certain defeat and possible victory" in the presidential election.

Hamon, 48, a traditional leftwinger, was sacked from government by President Francois Hollande in 2014 for criticising his economic policies.

In Sunday's first round he coasted to a comfortable win ahead of Valls, 54, who represents the more business-friendly second half of Hollande's term in government.

"I think there is no chance for the left to win unless it can put forward a imaginative and powerful policy against a right that is full-on and an extreme right that is dangerous," Hamon said on France Inter radio.

Hamon won about 36 percent of the vote to Valls' 31, according to partial results. The former education minister also secured the backing of Arnaud Montebourg, another left-winger who came in third with 18 percent, and was therefore eliminated along with four other candidates.

The outcome of next Sunday's head-to-head vote remains uncertain though.

This year's primary is only the second in the history of the Socialist party and its allies. Anyone of voting age can participate, and the first-round turnout involved only between 1.6 and 1.7 million of France's 44 million-plus voters. (Reporting by Andrew Callus and Yann Le Guernigou; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta) </s> Partial results suggest that Manuel Valls, a center-leaning former prime minister who rallied France together after extremist attacks, will confront stalwart Socialist Benoit Hamon in the country's left-wing presidential primary runoff next week.

Hamon, a former government minister, was leading with 35.2 percent followed by Valls with 31.6 percent, based on more than one-third of the vote count, organizers of Sunday's first round of primary voting said.

Whoever wins the Jan. 29 primary runoff will face the April-May presidential election battling more popular candidates from the far right to the far left riding frustration with immigration and economic stagnation.

Tough-talking, center-leaning Valls jumped in the presidential race in December few days after Socialist President Francois Hollande declined to seek re-election —acknowledging his personal unpopularity would lead his Socialist party to defeat in the presidential battle.

Valls, 54, has faced fierce attacks from harder-left rivals who associate him with Hollande's unpopular moves to relax labor protections to encourage hiring.

He argues that he has the experience that France's next leader will need as the country is facing the threat of extremist attacks, and to revitalize a lagging economy.

The Spanish-born politician, naturalized French at the age of 20, is promising to decrease taxes for modest and middle-class households and to boost police and defense.

Hamon, 49, is a lower-profile politician yet he gained popularity by leading a group of rebel Socialist lawmakers who opposed Valls.

A former junior minister and education minister, he left the government in 2014 after he expressed disagreement with Valls' pro-business policies.

He is pledging to push for the introduction of a 750-euro ($800) "universal income" living allowance for all adults in the country.

Hamon is also promising to tax robots, legalize cannabis and repeal labor measures passed by Valls.

The competition promises to be tough for the Socialist nominee in the race for the two-round presidential election on April 23 and May 7.

Polls show more support for conservative candidate Francois Fillon and National Front leader Le Pen.

The left also faces a growing challenge from centrist Emmanuel Macron, 39, a former investment banker who led Hollande's reforms as economy minister, but refused to take part in the Socialist primary.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon is drawing voters away from the establishment Socialists, too.

Overshadowing the Socialist voting is the nationalist sentiment that helped fuel Donald Trump's successful campaign for the U.S. presidency and in several countries around Europe.

Le Pen and other European far-right leaders came together Saturday in Germany in a show of strength before multiple European elections this year. </s> Paris, Jan 23 (IANS) Former Education Minister Benoit Hamon and former Prime Minister Manuel Valls topped the list after the first round of the French Socialist Party primaries held on Sunday.

Hamon, with the left wing of the Socialist Party, so far has obtained 35 per cent of the votes doing especially well among young, urban voters, EFE news reported.

The more centrist Valls — well-known because of his stint as Prime Minister from 2014-2016 — obtained about 32 per cent votes, falling to second place against all predictions, with about 18 per cent going to former Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg, who was also one of the three favourites.

More than 7,500 polling stations collected votes in continental France and its overseas territories.

With none of the candidates exceeding 50 per cent of the votes in the first primary round, French voting rules mandate that the two top vote-getters face off in a run-off on January 29.

“By placing me in the lead, you sent a clear message of hope and renewal. You have expressed your desire to open a new page for the Left,” Xinhua news agency quoted Hamon as saying.

“We must finish with the old recipes, the old politics. I will continue to defend the priority given to the social issue, ecological conversion and democratic renewal,” he told his supporters.

Long trailing his rivals in opinion polls, the 49-year-old left-winger has seen his ratings unexpectedly start surging a few days ahead of the contest after three televised debates gave him impetus.

Hamon is likely to pass the Left primary runoff with a strong lead thanks to the backing of defeated candidates including Montebourg.

“Primary voters have spoken … They massively and seriously condemned the mandate (of the Socialist President Francois Hollande),” Xinhua news agency quoted Montebourg as saying after the release of the partial results.

“Next Sunday, I will vote Benot Hamon and I invite you to do the same,” Montebourg said.

Losing momentum, Valls said that for the second round, “nothing is written.”

“A new campaign begins this evening. A very clear choice is now for you and for us,” he said.

Dominating France’s political landscape for decades, the Socialists and the broader Left are weakened by internal upheavals that it has been hard for them to build momentum to take on the right-wing and the far right party.

No left-wing candidate is likely to pass to presidential runoff on May 7 after Hollande’s policies had alienated left voters, the country’s pollsters predicted.

The primary is the second such competition held by the Socialist Party and allies.

In 2011, the Socialist Party had opened a two-round contest to all registered voters regardless of their political views as long as they share the left-wing values and donate 1 euro (1.069 U.S. dollar). </s> Benoît Hamon and Manuel Valls on Sunday advanced to the second round of France’s left-wing primary, setting up a battle for who will represent the ruling Socialists in the upcoming presidential election, but also for the soul of their party.

Hamon, 49, delivered the latest unexpected turn to a presidential race already full of surprises when he finished a decisive first on Sunday evening. The one-time underdog claimed more than 36 percent of all votes cast in the first round of the primary organized by the Socialist Party, but that also included allied, micro-parties.

In one week, he will face off against Manuel Valls, a former prime minister who was long touted as the frontrunner of the primary, but who nevertheless managed to save face by winning around 31 percent support and make it into the run-off.

“Left-wing constituents voted with their hearts and have not given up,” Hamon, a former education minister and admirer of US Senator Bernie Sanders, said in a victory speech as his campaign’s headquarters in Paris.

His triumph at the ballot box was then sweetened by an endorsement by primary rival Arnaud Montebourg, who came in third place with around 18 percent of votes.

Speaking to supporters late on Sunday, Valls described the upcoming duel as a simple choice between “certain defeat” in the presidential election if Hamon is chosen, and “possible victory” if he is picked as the Socialist’s nominee.

Vincent Peillon, who came in fourth place with around 7 percent of votes, also addressed the press following the primary results, but refused to back either Hamon or Valls.

“Clearly this is going to be major choice for the Socialist Party,” said FRANCE 24 politics editor Marc Perelman, noting that Hamon and Valls represent extreme opposites within the political camp.

Valls, 54, has angered many left-wing sympathisers by championing pro-market economic policies alongside President François Hollande, while approving a state of emergency restricting civil liberties after a series of terrorist attacks.

Hamon and Montebourg are among a list of former ministers who quit Hollande’s government in protest over the pro-business turn.

Hamon – who supports implementing a universal basic income and shortening the work week from 35 to 32 hours – addressed this rift directly as he proclaimed victory on Sunday. “By putting me in the lead, you have sent a clear message of hope and renewal, the desire to write a new chapter for the left in France,” he said.

“Not that long ago Valls said that there were two lefts that could no longer be reconciled,” Perelman reminded. “But those two lefts will be face to face next Sunday. The question for Socialists is does the party go with Valls and towards the centre, or with Hamon and move to the left?”

Around 2 million people participated in Sunday’s left-wing primary, which was open to any eligible French voter or Socialist Party member who was willing to part with 1 euro.

While turnout might have exceeded the 1.5-million target set by Socialist Party organisers, it was still less than half of the 4.3 million people who cast ballots in France’s conservative primary in November.

Experts said it would prove difficult for either Hamon or Valls to pivot to the general election, after five years of Socialist rule marked by fears of rising immigration and by the failure to significantly lower unemployment.

“Tomorrow the Socialist Party chiefs are going to congratulate themselves on the great turnout, because no one would have predicted they would get that many voters just yesterday,” Cecile Alduy, an associate professor at Stanford University, told FRANCE 24.

“At the same time, 2 million people is not that much, and also it's people who are extremely politicised and on the left. Down the road, the Socialists are going to go against a much bigger electorate that is not going to be sensitive to the same kinds of arguments,” she added.

Indeed, polls show the mainstream left is not expected to perform well in France’s presidential and parliamentary elections this upcoming spring.

Whoever wins the left-wing primary is expected to finish in only fifth place in the race for the Elysée Palace.

Opinions polls reveal Hamon or Valls would lose to conservative nominee François Fillon, but also far-right leader Marine Le Pen, radical-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon and independent centrist Emmanuel Macron.

“We must now amplify the movement… strengthen it even more,” Hamon said on Sunday, hoping the primary will help infuse what has been announced as a fated presidential campaign with fresh momentum.

He and Valls will face off in a last televised debate on Wednesday, before the second round poll on January 29. </s> France's governing Socialist Party will choose Benoît Hamon or former prime minister, Manuel Valls as their presidential candidate after five other contenders were eliminated in the first primary.

Mr Hamon is fractionally ahead of Mr Valls - early results put Mr Hamon on around 35% of the vote with the former premier close behind on 32%.

Whoever wins the second round next Sunday will be unlikely to make it through to the second round of the presidential contest according to current polls which put the Socialist Party fifth.

Current polling suggests far right leader Marine Le Pen and the centre right's Francois Fillon will contest the presidency on 7 May. </s> French voters on Sunday were electing the Socialist candidate who will face a tough battle against rivals from the far-left, far-right and the political center in the presidential election this spring.

The Socialist primary runoff offered a stark choice between two candidates — Benoit Hamon and former Prime Minister Manuel Valls — on opposite poles of the beleaguered party, with sharply different plans for France.

With a headline-grabbing proposal to pay all French adults a modest monthly stipend, Hamon, 49, emerged from obscurity on the Socialist left to win the primary's first round against six other candidates last weekend.

Casting his ballot Sunday in Trappes, the blue-collar town west of Paris where he is the elected lawmaker, Hamon expressed hope for high voter participation. Voting in Evry, south of Paris, Valls echoed that call. The primary was open to all voters who paid 1 euro ($1.04) and signed a document saying they share the left's values.

A more robust turnout than the anemic 1.6 million votes cast in the first round of the primary would help bolster the legitimacy of the runoff winner entering a potentially bruising campaign.

In the sometimes testy primary campaign, Valls, 54, emphasized his experience in government. As prime minister from 2014 to 2016, he was on the front lines of France's response to gun and suicide-bomb attacks that killed 147 people in Paris in January and November 2015. He was also in office in July 2016 when a man drove a truck into crowds in Nice, killing 86 people.

Casting his ballot for Valls in a gymnasium two blocks from the presidential Elysee Palace, voter Jean-Pierre Abehassera said the ex-prime minister offered a stronger bulwark against militant Islam than Hamon. The 69-year-old web publisher lost a friend in the November 2015 attack on the Bataclan concert hall, where 90 died.

"The No. 1 problem is security," Abehassera said.

But Valls' close association with chronically unpopular President Francois Hollande, who isn't seeking a second five-year term, has made him vulnerable in a race against Hamon, who quit Hollande's government in 2014 amid infighting over economic policies.

Hamon, a former junior minister and briefly Valls' education minister, picked up backing from Arnaud Montebourg, another Socialist left-wing rebel who defied Hollande. The 290,000 votes the former economy minister received in the primary's first round were expected to help Hamon defeat Valls in the runoff.

Hamon's signature proposal is for a 750 euros ($800) "universal income" that would be gradually granted to all adults. Valls sharply criticized the idea as unrealistic and ruinous, both for France and the Socialist Party's credibility. Hamon also proposes legalizing cannabis and allowing medically assisted deaths.

Voting for the first time, student Maayane Pralus, 18, backed Hamon, saying: "He has a lot of the youth vote with him, which is sick of the old politics."

"People call him utopian, but that's the politics we've been waiting for," she said.

The presidential race was rocked this week by ethics questions faced by conservative candidate Francois Fillon, a former prime minister. Financial prosecutors are investigating an allegedly fake but handsomely paid job as a parliamentary aide held by this wife, Penelope.

She appeared at his side and was given a standing ovation during a boisterous rally in Paris on Sunday to bolster his troubled campaign, where supporters chanted her name and "Fillon, president!"

"Through Penelope they are trying to break me," he said. "I will never forgive those who chose to throw us to the wolves."

The first order of business for Sunday's winner will be trying to unite the Socialist family that has been torn for years between advocates of a radical left, including Hamon and Montebourg, and party members with center-left views, like Valls and Hollande.

"It's always been hard to unite the left," Hamon said as he voted.

Divisions are so deep that some of Valls' support is expected to shift to centrist Emmanuel Macron, running for president as an independent, if Hamon wins the Socialist ticket.

In such a complex political landscape, some voters cast ballots strategically. Bernard Biassette, 74, a retired bank worker, voted for Hamon only to eliminate Valls, whom he saw as a greater threat to his preferred presidential candidate — Macron.

Hamon "is throwing money out of the window," Biassette said. "He's not a serious candidate."

Early polling has suggested that the Socialist nominee will struggle to advance from the presidential election first-round in April to qualify for the runoff in May. Macron, Hollande's former economy minister, and fiery far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon are squeezing the Socialists from both sides.

But Fillon's legal problems have thrown a cloud of uncertainty over expectations of a two-horse race between him and far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

"I still think he is the best candidate for France, to help us get out of the crisis and reduce unemployment," said Laurence Benoist, who was among the 15,000 people Fillon said attended his rally.

Despite being "a bit surprised, a bit upset" by the allegations against Penelope Fillon, Benoist, 43, added: "I still believe he is sincere when he says he tells the truth about France's situation".

———

Nadine Achoui-Lesage and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.
In the second round run-off to select the Socialist Party's candidate in this year's spring presidential election, the leftist candidate, former Minister of National Education Benoît Hamon, topped former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, a centrist, with 58.65 percent of the vote.