At the 2012
Toulouse Congress, the
Socialist Party (PS) modified its statutes to guarantee the selection of a candidate of the left through open primaries, with the National Council of the Socialist Party announcing the timetable and organization of the primaries at least one year beforehand. On 11 January,
Libération published an editorial in favor of a "primary of the left and ecologists", and on 9 April the National Council of the Socialist Party unanimously approved the idea of holding such a primary in early December. The same day,
Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV) adopted a motion saying that it would "welcome with interest" such a primary, but withheld formal support. The PRG suspended its participation in the
Belle Alliance populaire (BAP) of left-wing forces on 29 June 2016, denouncing the Socialist Party's unilateral decision to run a primary, and arguing that the BAP should not become a "simple satellite movement of the Socialist Party". On 2 July, the delegates of the BAP unanimously approved the organization of the primary. The PRG voted to support the candidacy of its party leader
Sylvia Pinel, outside the primary, on 26 November, but on 6 December Pinel announced that she would ultimately run in the primary of the left, a decision the party's steering committee confirmed on 14 December. Prospective PS candidates were required to sign the primary's charter of ethics requiring candidates to rally behind its winner and to secure the support of 5% of one of the following groups: members of the National Council; Socialist parliamentarians, regional and departmental Socialist councilors in at least 4 regions and 10 departments; or Socialist mayors representing more than 10,000 people in at least 4 regions and 10 departments. The conditions for becoming a candidate of other member parties of the BAP – the PRG, UDE, PE, and
Democratic Front (FD) – were determined by the respective parties' leadership. The EELV declared on 20 June that it would not participate in the primary, and the
French Communist Party (PCF) did likewise the following day. After declaring his candidacy for the presidential election,
Emmanuel Macron of
En Marche! also declined to participate, as did
Jean-Luc Mélenchon under the banner of
La France Insoumise, saying that he did not want to run in a primary with
François Hollande since he would not be able to support Hollande if he won. He later reaffirmed this by saying that with the exclusion of the EELV and PRG the primary was not truly "of the left" but a "primary of the Socialist Party". On 1 December, Hollande declared that he would not seek a second term, becoming the first President of the Fifth Republic to renounce a reelection bid. His announcement reflected his high personal unpopularity and resentment among Socialist colleagues regarding remarks he made about cabinet members and other associates in the book
Un président ne devrait pas dire ça... (A president should not say that...) by
Gérard Davet and
Fabrice Lhomme, journalists at
Le Monde. On 17 December, the High Authority of the open primary declared that seven candidates qualified to appear on the ballot, including four from the Socialist Party – former
Prime Minister Manuel Valls,
Arnaud Montebourg,
Benoît Hamon, and
Vincent Peillon – the other three being
François de Rugy of the PE, Sylvia Pinel of the PRG, and
Jean-Luc Bennahmias of the PD.
Candidacies during his 2011 campaign for the Socialist nomination Former economy minister
Arnaud Montebourg, who also ran for the nomination of the Socialists
in 2011, was one of the first to declare interest in a speech at
Mont Beuvray on 16 May 2016, widely viewed as indicating his interest in running for the presidency, in which he issued a "call" to "build" a "great alternative project for France" to an audience of 200 Socialist Party militants. Among those in attendance were former minister
Aurélie Filippetti, as well as MPs
Christian Paul, chief among the party's rebels, having had a part in the foundation of the New Socialist Party caucus along with Montebourg,
Laurent Baumel and
Patrice Prat. Montebourg officially declared his candidacy on 16 August, decrying Hollande's betrayal of the "ideals of the left" in
Frangy-en-Bresse in his home département of
Saône-et-Loire, and laid out an anti-globalization campaign platform based on protectionism for French businesses, threats to nationalize predatory banks, and tax breaks for the middle class, themes which became central to his campaign. These themes were reflective of his combative tenure as economy minister, in which he threatened to nationalize divisions of
ArcelorMittal and attempted but ultimately failed to prevent
General Electric's partial acquisition of French multinational
Alstom. Former French education minister
Benoît Hamon, another founder of the New Socialist Party caucus, declared his candidacy on the same day, arguing that Hollande could "no longer earn the French people's trust" and proposed to raise the minimum wage, to further reduce the
35-hour workweek instituted by the Socialists in 2000 to 32 hours, a €35 billion stimulus for the French economy, and legalizing marijuana. His signature campaign plan, however, was his intention to introduce a €300–400 billion
universal basic income program funded by a tax on robots, equivalent to a monthly income of approximately €750 per person. Like Montebourg, he was ejected from the Socialist government by prime minister
Manuel Valls in a wider purge of left-wing dissenters after the fall of the
First Valls Government in August 2014. as did Verdier. Both men claimed that, because they represented other left-wing parties (
Parti politique Filoche2017 and
Convictions, respectively), they were not bound by the requirement to seek sufficient support, as with Pinel, de Rugy, and Bennahmias; nevertheless, the decision to exclude both was reaffirmed. Larrouturou's application was rejected because his
New Deal party was not a member of the left-wing alliance for the primary, as were those of
Bastien Faudot of the
Citizen and Republican Movement and
Sébastien Nadot of the
Movement of Progressives.
Campaign The unpopularity of incumbent president Hollande led to widespread speculation as to whether he would choose to run for re-election, facing fierce competition within his own party in the Socialist primary; when he ultimately renounced his candidacy on 1 December 2016, On 15 December, he declared that if elected president, he would abolish
article 49-3, an executive degree enshrined within the
Constitution of France. He controversially used it as prime minister to force laws through the
National Assembly, bypassing legislative approval, to send them directly to the
Senate, and his repudiation of the 49-3 was met with derision, Valls having used it to force through controversial labour reforms in the
El Khomri law and the reformist
Macron law, moves often described as indicative of his authoritarian tendencies. Valls further attempted to portray himself as a candidate "profoundly of the left" by backing down on his earlier tough tone towards labour, promising not to institute any further reforms to France's
35-hour workweek – beloved by the French left – nor its labour laws, instead taking an anti-austerity tone; despite this, his campaign was overshadowed by past policies such as the abolition of the
wealth tax. Unveiling his platform on 3 January 2017, he proposed a 2.5% increase in public spending contingent on annual economic growth of 1.9% while keeping the deficit below the 3% of GDP requirement mandated by the
Stability and Growth Pact, the creation a "decent income" of €800 for all adult French nationals, halving the
gender pay gap in France, a "pause" in the
enlargement of the European Union, the addition of a charter of secularism to the Constitution, and the consolidation of the nuclear industry. Valls was physically attacked twice during the campaign; the first incident occurred on 22 December 2016, in which he was flour-bombed by a protester screaming "We do not forget the 49-3. We don't forgive it," a reference to his claim that he would abolish the constitutional provision he twice used to bypass legislative approval, during a visit to a Christmas market in
Strasbourg. The second incident, on 17 January 2017, involved an apparent Breton nationalist who slapped him during a campaign stop in
Lamballe; although Valls initially brushed the episode off, saying "it's nothing," he later made to press charges, saying "Democracy cannot be about violence." at a meeting of supporters in
Saint-Denis Valls' most prominent opponent was initially considered to be former economy minister
Arnaud Montebourg, He also pledged during the campaign that he would not comply with EU deficit rules, in contrast to Valls, embark upon an "economic patriotism" (described as protectionism by some observers), reserve 80 percent of government contracts for French small businesses, reinstate border controls, repeal the El Khomri jobs bill, defend small domestic businesses, warn that he might engage in a trade war against China, and support a €30 billion infrastructure plan. Three debates were held before the first round of the primary. The first, syndicated by
TF1,
Public Sénat,
LCI,
RTL, and co-organized by
''L'Observateur'', aired at 21:00 CET on 12 January, moderated by
Gilles Bouleau,
Élizabeth Martichoux, and
Matthieu Croissandeau; the second, by
BFM TV,
RMC, and
I-TV, aired at 18:00 CET on 15 January, moderated by
Ruth Elkrief,
Laurence Ferrari, and
Laurent Neumann; the third, by
France 2,
Europe 1,
LCP,
TV5Monde, and regional daily newspapers, aired at 21:00 CET on 19 January, moderated by
David Pujadas,
Léa Salamé, and
Fabien Namias. The first debate attracted 3.83 million viewers, representing an audience share of 18.3%; the second 1.75 million, representing a share of 7.9%; and the third 3.07 million, a share of 15%.
First round Hamon came on top in the first round of the primary, followed by Valls; as neither of the two secured more than 50% of the vote, a second round was held on 29 January. Montebourg, relegated to third place, conceded defeat and pledged to vote for Hamon in the second round. Peillon came fourth, de Rugy fifth, Pinel sixth, and Bennahmias last. Of these four candidates, Pinel backed Valls in the second round; Peillon did not endorse but encouraged voters to mobilize; and de Rugy also chose not to endorse immediately afterwards, hoping to meet the top two contenders on 23 January to decide. Only 7,350 polling stations were open during the primary, compared to 9,425 in the
2011 primary and 10,228 in the
primary of the right. Meanwhile, Bennahmias, with just over 1% of the primary vote, did not initially endorse any candidate and expressed his intent to announce a decision on 25 January; he ultimately backed Valls. An overnight update of the official primary results published 10:00 CET on 23 January added approximately three hundred thousand votes, without any change in the vote share of any candidate, arousing suspicions among observers and the French press. Two hours later, an update to the total of votes obtained by Sylvia Pinel was published, increasing her vote share by 0.01% (i.e., 160 additional votes). However, the total number of votes for Pinel increased by 161, more than the total number of overall votes, with changes to no other candidates. The results were initially speculated to have been manipulated into inflate the apparent turnout, which was low compared to past primaries. The PS initially attributed the results to a "bug", but later conceded that it had been a result of "human error." However, the French press remained skeptical, noting the improbability of a nearly-identical 28% increase in votes for all seven candidates. There was also additional confusion, even prior to reports about the potential manipulation of vote totals, surrounding the number of polling stations open (which, according to PS, is fewer than 7,350 because many were merged with others) and the vagueness of PS officials on primary turnout, compounded by the fact that no comprehensive public record of primary results was published. In the second round of the primary on 29 January, Hamon defeated Valls, by a comfortable margin, with 58.69% of votes against 41.31%; turnout, at 2.05 million, was considerably higher than that in the first round. As the winner of the primary, Hamon was designated the Socialist nominee for the presidential election.
Aftermath On 22 February, François de Rugy announced his support for Emmanuel Macron, breaking the commitment requested of former candidates to back the winner of the primary, stating that he preferred "coherence to obedience," albeit acknowledging that Hamon was the legitimate nominee of the PS. On 13 March,
Le Parisien reported that Valls, rather than backing Socialist nominee Benoît Hamon, would urge voters to support Macron in the first round of the presidential election; Valls denied the report at the time, but declared on 29 March that he personally would vote for Macron, but did not rally behind his candidacy. On 15 March, the PRG announced its support for Hamon's candidacy, securing concessions on issues pertaining to European governance, and confirmed an agreement with the Socialist Party for the
legislative elections; this followed a period of hesitation after the primary in which the party contemplated the candidacy of Macron, who secured the support of several of its parliamentarians. ==Candidates==