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| French right votes for presidential candidate to oppose Marine Le Pen | French right votes for presidential candidate to oppose Marine Le Pen |
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| Voting is under way in France in the first round of the primary race to choose the right-wing establishment candidate likely to face the far-right Marine Le Pen in next spring’s presidential election. | |
| Donald Trump’s win in the US has thrown the spotlight on France as the next possible shake-up of the political system. Polls have consistently shown that Le Pen, the Front National (FN) leader, will make it to the final round run-off next May, but that it would be difficult for her to win. | |
| The committee organising the primary said more than a million voters had taken part by midday on Sunday. | |
| The three leading contenders to represent the right are all establishment figures — two former prime ministers, Alain Juppé and François Fillon, and the former president Nicolas Sarkozy. They have been fighting for weeks over who could better unite French voters against the far-right in a country still struggling with mass unemployment and a major terrorism threat. | The three leading contenders to represent the right are all establishment figures — two former prime ministers, Alain Juppé and François Fillon, and the former president Nicolas Sarkozy. They have been fighting for weeks over who could better unite French voters against the far-right in a country still struggling with mass unemployment and a major terrorism threat. |
| Juppé, 71, the mayor of Bordeaux who served as prime minister under Jacques Chirac in 1995, has led a centrist campaign promising economic reform and rejecting what he called the “suicidal” identity politics of Sarkozy, that he said would deepen rifts in French society. | |
| Juppé is currently France’s most popular politician and for months has been favourite to win the presidency. A last-minute surge in the polls by Fillon, means the selection of the two candidates who go through to the final round on 27 November remains wide open. | |
| Fillon, who served as prime minister under Sarkozy, is an admirer of Margaret Thatcher. He is socially conservative, voted against same-sex marriage and has promised the most radical free-market reform, vowing to cut 500,000 public sector jobs in five years. | Fillon, who served as prime minister under Sarkozy, is an admirer of Margaret Thatcher. He is socially conservative, voted against same-sex marriage and has promised the most radical free-market reform, vowing to cut 500,000 public sector jobs in five years. |
| Juppé used his last rally in Lille to warn against Fillon. “France needs far-reaching and radical reforms, but be careful of going too far. We must remain credible,” he said. | Juppé used his last rally in Lille to warn against Fillon. “France needs far-reaching and radical reforms, but be careful of going too far. We must remain credible,” he said. |
| Fillon attracted huge crowds at his final rally in Paris. “I’m tagged with a liberal label as one would once, in the Middle Ages, paint crosses on the doors of lepers,” he said. “But I’m just a pragmatist.” | Fillon attracted huge crowds at his final rally in Paris. “I’m tagged with a liberal label as one would once, in the Middle Ages, paint crosses on the doors of lepers,” he said. “But I’m just a pragmatist.” |
| At his final rally in Nîmes, Sarkozy continued his hardline campaigning that has veered towards the far-right, warning of a France whose “identity and unity are threatened”. Having proposed to ban the Muslim headscarf from universities, he said: “Political Islam is doing battle against our values. There’s no room for compromise.” | At his final rally in Nîmes, Sarkozy continued his hardline campaigning that has veered towards the far-right, warning of a France whose “identity and unity are threatened”. Having proposed to ban the Muslim headscarf from universities, he said: “Political Islam is doing battle against our values. There’s no room for compromise.” |
| It is the first time the established French right has run a US-style open primary race. Any voter who signs a charter saying they agree with the “Republican values of the centre and the right” and pays €2 can take part. | |
| Whoever wins the final round on 27 November will instantly become the favourite to take the presidency next spring. The deeply unpopular Socialist president, François Hollande, will make an announcement next month on whether he intends to run for re-election. | |