Prime Minister Manuel Valls runs for French presidency

Current French Prime Minister Manuel Valls officially joined the race for the Elysees Palace just four days after President Hollande announced his withdrawal.

The above statement was made by Mr. Manuel Valls in the late afternoon of December 5 at a rally held in Evry, the city where he served as Mayor and parliamentarian for many years.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Photo AFP

Mr Valls said he wanted to rally the left to win against challenges from the right and especially the far-right National Front party.

With this announcement, Mr. Valls will officially participate in the left-wing primary election held next January to choose a representative for this political wing to run for President.

This is not surprising news because for a long time, Mr. Manuel Valls has been considered one of the most prominent faces of the left wing and the ruling Socialist Party (PS) and his candidacy for President in 2017 was predicted in advance.

This became even clearer when, four days ago, French President Francois Hollande unexpectedly announced that he would not run for re-election for a second term. Mr. Hollande's decision opened a clear path for Prime Minister Manuel Valls and also placed Mr. Valls in the position of the leading candidate of the left wing.

According to the latest polls of left-wing voters, among the candidates registered so far, Mr. Valls is considered the candidate with the most potential to win the left-wing primary in January, ahead of two other former ministers in Mr. Hollande's government, Arnaud Montebourg and Benoit Hamon. They are also considered Mr. Valls's two main rivals in the left-wing primary, which currently has seven candidates.

However, the biggest challenge for Manuel Valls right now is how to attract the support of other factions within the left wing. Not only is he constantly attacked by opponents such as Montebourg, Hamon..., Valls is also not liked by many supporters of President Hollande because these people still believe that in the past, Valls has always tried to hinder Hollande's re-election plan, even committing acts of silent betrayal.

That is the reason why many analysts believe that without the right strategy, Mr. Valls could become the target of attack from all sides and his chances of winning would be threatened.

Even if he wins the primary and represents the left, Mr. Valls' next challenge will still come from within, specifically from the far left and the "right" of the left, which is supporting candidates Jean-Luc Melenchon and Emmanuel Macron.

Both candidates have announced that they will not participate in the left-wing primaries and will run directly for the presidency. This means that the left-wing electorate will be severely divided and the chances of voting for Mr. Valls will be reduced.

Perhaps that is the reason why, in the current French presidential election scenarios in April 2017, Mr. Valls is still rated relatively low, only the 4th candidate after Mr. Francois Fillon (right wing), Ms. Marine Le Pen (far-right National Front) and liberal candidate Emmanuel Macron, former Minister of Economy.

Polls show that if he ran for President of France at this time, Mr. Manuel Valls would only win about 11% of the French vote.

In the immediate future, to prepare for the election campaign, Mr. Manuel Valls will soon submit his resignation as Prime Minister of France and President Francois Hollande will have to appoint a new Prime Minister to lead the government for the remaining 5 months of his presidential term.

The most mentioned candidates to replace Mr. Manuel Valls are current ministers in the government such as Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, Defense Minister Jean Yves Le Drian or Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll.

Mr. Cazeneuve is considered the most promising candidate because France is still maintaining a state of emergency and security is still the top priority that must be ensured in the context of the approaching 2017 presidential election.

In addition, it is likely that President Hollande will also make some changes to his cabinet positions to ensure a smooth end to his presidential term and, according to some analysts, to prevent the influence of Manuel Valls, who, although he was chosen as Prime Minister, has never been considered a close political ally./.

According to VOV