Abstract
Centrist space in the moderate pluralist model characterizing French political competition has been seen as a poor location for candidates or parties to challenge the hegemony of dominant centre–left and centre–right parties of government. Where candidate positions have taken more polarized positions, however, the centrist position has become ideologically viable. In that respect, party primaries for the left and right governing coalitions were vital in Macron’s success, by selecting candidates who adopted more ideological extreme positions than the optimal presidential candidates would ideally have held. This chapter examines how Benoît Hamon and François Fillon won their respective primaries and the impact this had on subsequent first-round performance.
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Notes
- 1.
A similar movement towards democratic local candidate selection procedures was found in the 2014 municipal elections where ‘closed’ primaries—that is, a party membership vote—were held by both the UMP and the PS across a number of large cities such as Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Lille.
- 2.
‘Pour 78% des Français, François Hollande est trop bavard avec les journalistes’, http://www.lejdd.fr/Politique/Pour-78-des-Francais-Francois-Hollande-est-trop-bavard-avec-les-journalistes-817240.
- 3.
In the November 2012 UMP party congress, the 325,000 registered party members were given the opportunity to elect Sarkozy’s successor, as well as to arbitrate between newly officially recognized factions (mouvements), and to endorse the party’s new Charter of Values.
- 4.
In November 2014, Nicolas Sarkozy had won the UMP leadership election, receiving a sizeable majority of 64.5 per cent of the first-round vote, which had allowed him to retake control of his former party following what was a short period of political retirement.
- 5.
‘“Nos ancêtres sont Gaulois”: Sarkozy sous le feu des critiques’, http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/le-scan/citations/2016/09/20/25002-20160920ARTFIG00084-nos-ancetres-sont-gaulois-sarkozy-sous-le-feu-des-critiques.php.
- 6.
‘Rolling 2017. L’élection présidentielle en temps réel’, http://www.parismatch.com/var/partenaire/ifop/rapport-presidentielle-2017/01-02-2017.pdf.
- 7.
TNS-Kantar political popularity trends, http://www.tns-sofres.com/dataviz?type=2&code_nom=hamon.
- 8.
- 9.
‘Le 1er tour de la primaire de la droite et du centre’, http://harris-interactive.fr/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/11/Rapport-Harris-20h30-Sondage-Jour-du-vote-1er-tour-de-la-Primaire-de-la-droite-et-du-centre-LCP-Public-Sénat.pdf.
- 10.
Ibid.
- 11.
‘69% des sympathisants de droite pensent que Fillon est. le meilleur candidat pour 2017’, http://www.bfmtv.com/politique/69percent-des-sympathisants-de-droite-pensent-que-fillon-est-le-meilleur-candidat-pour-2017-1062744.html.
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Evans, J., Ivaldi, G. (2018). The Presidential Primaries and Polarization of Mainstream Party Politics. In: The 2017 French Presidential Elections. French Politics, Society and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68327-0_3
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