* Election in April/May, polls favour leftBy Brian LovePARIS, Oct 16 (Reuters) - French left-wingers began voting
on Sunday to decide who will lead their challenge to unseat
President Nicolas Sarkozy in an election next year, with
moderate Socialist Party veteran, Francois Hollande the
favourite to win.In a U.S.-style primary, the first of its kind in France,
voters will choose between Hollande, who has never held a
national government post, and Martine Aubry, one-time labour
minister, architect of France’s 35-hour week and daughter of
the former European Commission President Jacques Delors.Opinion polls give Hollande a lead of six percentage points
over Aubry in a ballot that decides which of the two will run in
a presidential contest that the Socialists have not won since
Francois Mitterand was re-elected in 1988.The polls suggest French voters are ready to put the left
back in power after five years of conservative Sarkozy, who is
unpopular but widely expected to seek another five-year term.The left’s runaway favourite to become president had been
former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn
but his IMF career and presidential hopes were halted when he
was arrested in New York in May on charges of sexually
assaulting a hotel maid. The charges have since been dropped.The ease with which Hollande and Aubry have filled his shoes
suggests that many voters are simply weary of Sarkozy and his
economic policies.Voters living abroad or in some French overseas
territories were first to cast their ballots and the bulk of
almost 10,000 polling stations opened at
0700 GMT on mainland France. They were set to close at
1700 GMT , with p reliminary results are
expected a few hours later.CONCILIATORY NOTEHollande and Aubry sparred in the days before the primary
but Aubry seized on France’s World Cup rugby semi-final win over
Wales to sound a conciliatory note ahead of Sunday’s vote.”When it’s time for the post-match session, everyone parties
together,” she told reporters. “That’s how it’ll be on Monday.”She dismissed polls that show Hollande scoring 53 percent of
the vote to her 47 percent, preferring to highlight declarations
of support from several prominent environmentalist politicians.In a primary inspired by the momentum that carried Barack
Obama to the White House, the Socialist Party has organised a
two-round contest where anyone who pays a euro and declares
allegiance to left-wing values can vote.More than 2.6 million people voted in the first-round last
Sunday, when anti-globalisation hardliner Arnaud Montebourg
scored a surprise 17 percent.Hollande, who promised in the ensuing days to crack down on
banks and financial market excess, has consolidated his position
versus Aubry by securing the support of the four contenders
knocked out in round one, including Montebourg.Hollande, seen by many as more centre-left, won 39 percent
of the first-round vote, versus 30 percent for Aubry, often
labelled as a more old-school Socialist. The four candidates
knocked out — including Segolene Royal, Hollande’s former
companion and mother of his four children — got close to 30
percent.But both Hollande and Aubry share the main tenets of a
Socialist Party manifesto that promises to scrap 50 billion
euros of tax breaks that mostly went to the wealthy under
Sarkozy, using half of this money to fund state jobs and promote
growth, with the rest to cut the deficit.Sarkozy, who took power in 2007 after 12 years of Jacques
Chirac, has yet to declare a re-election bid.Opinion polls show him trailing either Hollande or Aubry in
the election which takes place in two rounds on April 22 and May
6, followed weeks later by a parliamentary election.
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