The first televised debate for the Socialist primary was held in France, but I didn't watch it so
Less successful ratings than the right wing debate.
Apparently the headline item was Benoit Hamon proposal for a Universal Revenue that would reach, ultimately, 750 euros per person. Not a very popular proposition with the other candidates, which are either questioning its funding or playing the work ethic card. Hamon, alongside Montebourg, is also being vocal about partly repealing the recent labor law reform.
Otherwise, there was wide agreement about education and security, most of the candidates being OK with "targeted strikes" on suspected terrorists abroad (France is not unlike the US with regards to this, a large discretion on the use of armed forces is allowed to the President and there's a cultural acceptance of normalcy in our involvement abroad). There was debate on extending once more the state of emergency. Something I find completely absurd -it's obviously meant to be used for emergencies, the shorter the better and it's really a half-assed one which seems mainly to be used out of the convenience of relaxing checks and balance on police action- but which sadly could continue. Following the series of attacks in 1995 by GIA cells, France enacted the Vigipirate plan (deployment plan for security forces, public coordination and a few measures like blocking parking in front of schools and sensitive public buildings) which was originally a temporary thing but has never been stopped.
Vincent Peillon made the mistake of mentioning that one of Mohamed Merah's victim was of "muslim origin", an expression that didn't fly too well with some of the commenters.
Considering that pollsters didn't really caught the Fillon wave in the Republicans primary (though registered in the last days that his score was rocketing), polls should be taken with a grain of salt. But apparently the perceived trend is that Valls is leading with 35%-40%, followed by both Hamon and Montebourg around 20%. However as it is a two-round election (unless a candidate get 50% + 1 in the first round) and given that Montebourg and Hamon have been in informal talks since before the primary and are holding somewhat similar lines, it's expected to be a rather close competition between the former Prime Minister and whoever representing the more leftist wing would come second.
So far polls say that the Socialist candidate, whoever he is, could only place fifth in the first round of the presidential election, trailing behind independent center-left E.Macron and radical-left J.L.Mélenchon. Valls would get 11% and all the other potential socialist candidates are polling below closer to 6% which would be a disaster close to the horrendous 1969 election (G.Defferre 5%) which prompted the transformation of the SFIO (French Section of the Worker's International, founded in 1905) into the Socialist Party. Some are already predicting that a similar implosion of institutional left is looming over the horizon.
