France's hard left faces off against center left in primary
Hard-left Socialist rebel Benoit Hamon heads into France's left-wing presidential primary runoff as a surprising favorite to beat pro-business pragmatist Manuel Valls, in a vote that will realign France's unpredictable presidential campaign.
Hamon is the favorite in Sunday's vote after arriving in pole position in the first round with 36 percent of the votes. He has proposed a "determined and optimistic leftist alternative." His most talked-about proposal is a 750 euros ($800) "universal income" that would be gradually granted to all adults. He is now backed by another left-wing candidate, Arnaud Montebourg, eliminated from the race with 17.5 percent of the votes.
Valls, who arrived second with 31.4 percent, criticized Hamon's "unrealistic" promises. A former junior minister and briefly education minister, Hamon left the government in 2014. He then led a group of rebel Socialist lawmakers who opposed the government's economic policies. "Yesterday's failed solutions have no reason to become successes tomorrow," he said at a rally near Paris Thursday.
