French opposition conducts second round of voting to choose nominee to face Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012 presidential election
France's Socialists and the party's sympathisers are choosing their nominee for next year's presidential election, which is expected to be a showdown with the embattled conservative incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy.
The main opposition party is holding a runoff to choose its standard bearer as many French people worry about high levels of state debt, education spending cuts, weak economic growth and persistent unemployment.
The contest is between the party's leader, Martine Aubry, and her predecessor, Fran�ois Hollande. Aubry is best known for introducing legislation that created France's 35-hour working week in the late 1990s, while Hollande is seen as a party moderate who favours greater integration with Europe.
Aubry and Hollande were selected last week from six candidates in the first phase of an unprecedented primary in which more than 2 million people cast ballots.
The US-style primary, the first of its kind in France, was designed in part to help the Socialists overcome years of dissent in their ranks. It is open to voters beyond those in the party, though some conditions apply.
Early this year, most polls showed that the Socialists' best hope for toppling Sarkozy was Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who led the IMF until he was arrested in the United States in May on charges of sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid. Prosecutors later dropped the case, but Strauss-Kahn's reputation and presidential ambitions were badly damaged.
Hollande, who came out on top in the first round, has received expressions of support from all four candidates who lost out last Sunday, a tacit sign that a Socialist victory in the presidential election is their highest priority.
Recent polls suggest that come next spring either Aubry or Hollande could beat Sarkozy, whose popularity ratings have hovered around the 30% level for months. But the president is a strong campaigner and senses a tilt to the right among the French electorate.
Sarkozy was elected to serve a five-year term in 2007. He has not announced whether he will run again, but most political observers expect that he will.
Hollande, 57, voted in the central Correze region, where he is head of the regional government which he represents in the national assembly, the lower house of parliament. Aubry, 61, cast her ballot in the northern city of Lille, where she is mayor.
Both Aubry and Hollande say trimming state debt is a priority, but have stuck to the Socialist party line on issues such as shielding citizens from the whims of the financial markets and raising taxes on the rich.
The party's nominee will face questions about how to keep France competitive at a time when sluggish growth has reined in state spending, while emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil are booming.
Hollande ? the former partner of the Socialists' last presidential nominee, S�gol�ne Royal ? is little known outside France and has put forward no dramatic proposals for saving the euro, shrinking debts, solving tensions with immigrants or other key issues.
Aubry has repeated her hopes for "a strong left" to face Sarkozy ? seen by many as a jab at Hollande ? and said she would unite ideological allies such as Green party supporters for the finale of the presidential race.
In an interview published on Saturday in Le Parisien newspaper, Aubry said the phrase "soft with the weak, and hard on the powerful" was one that fits her well.
In the Montmartre neighbourhood of Paris, voters streamed steadily into one polling station at a school near the Sacre Coeur basilica. Several said their priority was getting Sarkozy out, but personality and gender also counted. "It'd be great to have a woman president," said Michelle Joly, 44, an unemployed former human resources director, who voted for Aubry. "The programmes of Aubry and Hollande are a bit 'six of one, half a dozen of the other'. And in fact, I'd probably have more negative things to say about Aubry, but I still voted for her."
Joly's husband, Jean Audouard, however, voted for Hollande. "I like his ability to unite, his humour, and feel he's less left-leaning than Martine Aubry. I'm centre-left," said the 50-year-old school director, while agreeing that the incumbent president needs to go.
"I think Sarkozy isn't suited to France today. He's not a unifier at a time when we need cohesion," he added. "I think Fran�ois Hollande is good. He is a bit soft but he's really nice, and quite funny ? and that counts."
France has had a string of conservative presidents over the past half-century, beginning with the election of Charles de Gaulle in 1958. The only exception was Fran�ois Mitterrand, who served from 1981 to 1995.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/16/france-socialists-aubry-hollande
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