Ex-PM, Philosopher and Ecologist in French Socialist Primary
Seven candidates are seeking to clinch the nomination to be the ruling Socialist party candidate in France's presidential elections due in April and May this year.
Voting takes place on January 22 and 29 in a primary contest that will decide the nominee.
Here are brief profiles of the six men and one woman who are running:
- Manuel Valls -
The Spanish-born 54-year-old is a Barcelona football club fan who served as prime minister from 2014 until last month under outgoing and highly unpopular Socialist President Francois Hollande.
After helping persuade Hollande not to seek re-election, Valls has appeared caught between his reformist, tough-talking instincts and his need to appeal to the party's leftwing base.
He once declared the Socialists faced extinction if they failed to modernize, but has dropped much of his previous rhetoric on reforming the French state, extending working hours and promoting business.
After a change of slogan, U-turns on previous policies and some lackluster public appearances, Valls has been sliding in the polls and is no longer the clear frontrunner he once was.
The father-of-four is the son of a Spanish painter and a Swiss-Italian mother who only took French nationality at age 20.
- Arnaud Montebourg -
A former industry minister who was sacked in 2014 after criticizing Hollande's economic program, Montebourg is a leftwing maverick best known for promoting "Made in France" manufacturing.
The 54-year-old former lawyer is from the left wing of the Socialist party and is a staunch critic of the European Union, multi-national companies and globalization.
The telegenic firebrand once accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of forcing austerity on the rest of Europe with "Bismarck-style" policies and accused the head of the European Commission of fueling the far-right in France.
He also clashed with Indian-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal during a row over his plans to cut jobs, telling the businessman he was "no longer welcome in France."
He wants to increase spending on culture by 20 percent, create 12,000 new jobs in the security forces and invest in green technologies to combat climate change.
The strong orator also proposes offering asylum to fugitive Edward Snowden who leaked U.S. intelligence documents.
- Benoit Hamon -
The former education minister has captured headlines with his proposal to pay everyone in France a so-called "basic income" of around 750 euros ($800) a month, a costly and radical reform of state spending.
The leftwinger sees basic income as a response "to the likely increasing rarity of work linked to the digital revolution" and as a way to allow people to do other activities besides their job.
Hamon estimates it would cost 300 billion euros a year, paid in part by a new tax on robots.
Also ejected from the government along with Montebourg in 2014, he wants to legalize cannabis and to use an alternative to gross domestic product (GDP) to measure economic development.
The 49-year-old hails from northwestern Brittany and is the son of a secretary mother and an engineer father who moved the family to Senegal in west Africa for several years while Hamon was a child.
- Vincent Peillon-
Also a former education minister, the 56-year-old philosophy professor was a surprise entrant into the race after stepping back from politics two years ago to concentrate on teaching and writing.
The sporty intellectual, viewed as aloof by some of his critics, says his decision to stand was prompted by Hollande's choice not to seek re-election.
During his time as education minister, he introduced an experimental teaching program designed to tackle gender stereotypes at school -- provoking protests from conservatives.
He is a European parliamentarian, published a James Bond-style thriller last year, and is backed by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo.
- Sylvia Pinel -
The former housing minister is the youngest contender at age 39 and is also the only woman in the line-up -- a gender imbalance that was also evident in the primary contest of the rightwing Republicans
Pinel heads a small leftist party which favors decriminalizing cannabis, allowing euthanasia but also reducing taxes on companies.
- Francois de Rugy -
An MP with an aristocratic background from western France, de Rugy is an ecologist who says he is standing to make sure the environment figures in the Socialist party debate.
The 43-year-old wants France to aim for 100 percent renewable energy by 2050 which he says would create 500,000 jobs.
- Jean-Luc Bennahmias -
A former center-left MEP who founded his own party in 2014, the Democratic Front, 62-year-old Bennahmias has struggled to make an impact during campaigning.
He also favors the idea of basic income.
Source: Agence France Presse
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