PARIS (AP) – French ex-Premier Manuel Valls suggested Tuesday that he wants to abandon France’s Socialist party and run in June parliamentary elections under the banner of the president-elect’s centrist political movement. But it’s not clear if he will be able to do so.
Valls told RTL radio that France’s Socialist party “is dead and behind us” and said he wants to join up with President-elect Emmanuel Macron’s Republic on the Move.
Valls is planning to run in the Essonne department, his fiefdom south of Paris, but Republic on the Move officials said his nomination won’t be automatic.
“Every support to the president is welcome,” said Jean-Paul Delevoye, the president of the commission in charge of assessing candidates. “But support doesn’t necessarily translate in nomination. His voice is not insignificant, but his candidacy will be treated as anyone else’s.”
Valls, a center-leaning politician in favor of relaxing labor protections, had already thrown his support behind Macron before the presidential election after losing to Benoit Hamon in the Socialist primary.