On Sunday, Benoit Hamon easily won the presidential primary runoff to represent France's ruling Socialist Party in upcoming elections, beating more centrist former Prime Minister Manuel Valls 58 percent to 41 percent. Hamon, a former education minister, was the most left-leaning of the seven candidates in last week's first round, and he surged to frontrunner status by promising to champion a universal income for all French citizens, legalize marijuana, scrap a labor law pushed through by President Francois Hollande, and bring other political change. The Los Angeles Times calls Hamon "a Gallic Bernie Sanders," though he is only 49 and an actual socialist.
Hollande's deep unpopularity is expected to hurt the Socialists in the spring election, against center-right Republican Francois Fillon, far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen, and independent former Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron. Hamon urged other leftist parties to unite behind him.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Global court issues arrest warrant for NetanyahuSpeed Read The International Criminal Court issued warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who stand accused of war crimes
-
Gaetz bows out, Trump pivots to Pam BondiSpeed Read Gaetz withdrew from attorney generation consideration, making way for longtime Trump loyalist Pam Bondi
-
GOP's Mace seeks federal anti-trans bathroom banSpeed Read Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has introduced legislation to ban transgender people from using federal facilities
-
Ukraine fires ATACMS, Russia ups hybrid warSpeed Read Ukraine shot U.S.-provided long-range missiles and Russia threatened retaliation
-
New York DA floats 4-year Trump sentencing freezeSpeed Read President-elect Donald Trump's sentencing is on hold, and his lawyers are pushing to dismiss the case while he's in office
-
Wyoming judge strikes down abortion, pill bansSpeed Read The judge said the laws — one of which was a first-in-the-nation prohibition on the use of medication to end pregnancy — violated the state's constitution
-
US sanctions Israeli West Bank settler groupSpeed Read The Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Amana, Israel's largest settlement development organization
-
Gaetz ethics report in limbo as sex allegations emergeSpeed Read A lawyer representing two women alleges that Matt Gaetz paid them for sex, and one witnessed him having sex with minor
