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| France election: PM Manuel Valls to run for president | France election: PM Manuel Valls to run for president |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| French Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls has announced he is standing in next year's presidential election. | French Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls has announced he is standing in next year's presidential election. |
| Mr Valls said he wanted to "give everything for France". He was speaking days after President Francois Hollande announced he would not be running. | Mr Valls said he wanted to "give everything for France". He was speaking days after President Francois Hollande announced he would not be running. |
| Mr Valls will face other contenders in the Socialist primary next month. | Mr Valls will face other contenders in the Socialist primary next month. |
| If successful, he will be set to face Francois Fillon and Marine Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election in April. | If successful, he will be set to face Francois Fillon and Marine Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election in April. |
| Current polling suggest that Ms Le Pen, leader of the far-right Front National, could come in the top two in the first round, but would be likely to lose to the centre-right Mr Fillon in the second. | |
| But Mr Valls, who will resign from his government role on Tuesday, is not guaranteed to win the primary, which will involve at least seven other Socialist candidates. | |
| He is seen as a divisive figure on the left, after forcing labour reforms through parliament and endorsing controversial bans last summer on the Islamic "burkini" swimsuit. | |
| Analysts say Mr Valls may be damaged by his close association with Mr Hollande, France's least popular leader in recent history. | |
| However, he used Monday's speech to call on the left to rally behind him - and against the threat of the far right. | |
| "My candidacy is that of conciliation," Mr Valls promised. | |
| If he does become the Socialist candidate, he will be facing a new threat in the form of former Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron, who is standing as a centrist candidate for his newly created party, En Marche. |