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French Interior Minister Cazeneuve replaces Valls as PM | French Interior Minister Cazeneuve replaces Valls as PM |
(35 minutes later) | |
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has been named as prime minister, replacing Manuel Valls, who resigned in order to make a bid for the presidency next year. | French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has been named as prime minister, replacing Manuel Valls, who resigned in order to make a bid for the presidency next year. |
Mr Valls presented his resignation to President Francois Hollande on Tuesday. | Mr Valls presented his resignation to President Francois Hollande on Tuesday. |
Mr Cazeneuve will be in charge of the Socialist government until June's parliamentary elections. | Mr Cazeneuve will be in charge of the Socialist government until June's parliamentary elections. |
He has played a key role in managing France's security since the jihadist terror attacks in Paris last year. | He has played a key role in managing France's security since the jihadist terror attacks in Paris last year. |
Mr Valls will face other contenders in the Socialist primary next month. | Mr Valls will face other contenders in the Socialist primary next month. |
Last week, in a move that surprised many, President Hollande announced that he would not seek a second term. | |
He is the first president since France's Fifth Republic was created in 1958 not to seek a second mandate. But he has haemorrhaged support amid stubbornly high unemployment and anxiety about Islamist terror. | |
If successful, Mr Valls will face Francois Fillon and Marine Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election in April. | |
Current polling suggests that Ms Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front (FN), 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. | |
Mr Valls is not guaranteed to win the Socialist primary, which will involve at least seven other 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. |