While centre-left hopeful François Hollande took the lead as expected in Sunday’s first round of the Socialist Party primaries, he will have to face a second round, after winning a disappointing 39 per cent of the votes against 31 per cent for runner-up Martine Aubry.
Arnaud Montebourg, a lesser-known Socialist politician, came third with a surprisingly high 17 per cent of the vote.
His campaign focused on protectionism and tougher controls on financial markets and his relatively high score means that both Hollande and Aubry could veer to the left before next Sunday’s final round, in a bid to pick up his voters.
Details: http://www.english.rfi.fr/france/20111010-hollande-or-aubry-will-take-sarkozy-presidential-elections