Fillon Wins France's First Conservative Presidential Primary
By VOA News November 27, 2016
Former prime minister Francois Fillon has won France's conservative presidential primary, beating a more moderate rival who had warned of encroaching populism.
In the first U.S.-style primary contest for French Republicans, Fillon, 62, won 68 percent of the vote against Alain Juppe, 71, another former prime minister, who garnered only 32 percent.
Juppe conceded defeat, congratulating Fillon on his "wide victory." He called for unity and calm after an unusually harsh campaign in which he accused Fillon of pandering to the anti-immigrant, anti-Islam far right.
Fillon's victory will send him into an electoral battle that opinion polls say will boil down finally to a duel with far-right leader Marine Le Pen next April.
The incumbent, Socialist President Francois Hollande, is expected to announce in the coming weeks whether he will seek re-election. Hollande's extreme unpopularity has weakened the position of the French left.
The French presidential vote is being seen as a key test for mainstream political parties after the success of Donald Trump in the United States and the Brexit campaign in Britain, both of which took advantage of anti-elite and anti-establishment anger.
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