Benoît Hamon, the staunchly leftwing rebel outsider who wants to introduce a universal basic income, legalise cannabis and tax robots has been chosen as the French Socialist party’s presidential candidate. Hamon’s first challenge now is to try to stop the French Socialist party imploding between its warring leftwing and centre-left factions. The far-right Front National’s Marine Le Pen still leads the polls for the first-round of the presidential race, against the beleaguered, scandal-hit rightwing candidate François Fillon. Key figures on the centre of the Socialist party could jump ship to Macron after Hamon’s win. Comparisons to Jeremy Corbyn have been bandied around throughout the French Socialist race, but Hamon, who has praised Corbyn, is nonetheless very different from the UK’s Labour leader.

Source: The Guardian January 29, 2017 20:23 UTC