The incumbent French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, announced his candidacy Monday for next year's presidential election, saying he will resign immediately from his current job to focus on his bid.
Valls hopes to unite the Socialists under his banner and give the left a chance to stay at the Elysee Palace, the most ambitious challenge of his political life after his boss, the highly unpopular President Francois Hollande, decided not to run for a second term last week.
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Valls announced his resignation as prime minister, saying it would be effective on Tuesday and opinion polls make him the favorite to win his party's ticket, But his pro-business reforms and tough stance on law and order have made him enemies within his own party, and it is expected to be a hard fight.
Valls said he wants to defeat the far-right, led by National Front leader Marine Le Pen, and the conservative candidate Francois Fillon, both of whom have already been chosen to represent their parties.
Valls has been Hollande's prime minister since March 2014, after being his "top cop" interior minister for two years. He had strong opinion poll ratings when he was in the Interior Ministry but has seen his own popularity fall since.
- http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-french-pm-manuel-valls-resigns-announces-presidential-bid-2280066
- http://scroll.in/latest/823393/french-prime-minister-manuel-valls-resigns-to-join-presidential-race
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-4002674/Valls-makes-French-presidential-bid-steps-premier.html
- http://www.euronews.com/2016/12/05/french-prime-minister-manuel-valls-resigns-from-government-formally-announcing-his-candidacy-for-the-2017-presidential-election
- http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/french-pm-manuel-valls-announces-presidential-bid/article33204497/
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-valls-idUSKBN13U0J9?il=0
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