Primaries in France: Putin wins again

The first round of the primaries of the center-right coalition continues, during which a presidential candidate for elections in 2017 is going to be chosen.

For the first time the primaries are universal. It is just enough to put a symbolic signature agreed that voting shares the views of the coalition. Previously, only registered party members could participate in the event.

Probably, this step was done because of the unpopularity of the opponents from socialist organizations. Many analysts believe that the next President of France will be the candidate, which will be chosen in the today's primaries (or according to the results of the second round), because a candidate from the "National Front", led by Marine Le Pen, would probably fail because of some circumstances. But the socialists have the support of at least 10% of the vote.

Today there are such candidates as the former president Nicolas Sarkozy, the former prime ministers Alain Juppé and François Charles Fillon, MPs, Bruno Le Maire, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Jean-Frédéric Puason and Jean-François Copé. Meanwhile, at the beginning, Alain Juppé and Nicolas Sarkozy were leading. But now according to the opinion poll conducted yesterday, François Charles Fillon has a chance to win, whose rating has risen suddenly and sharply to 30%.

François Charles Fillon is well-know to be the most loyal candidate to Moscow, and therefore preferred for Russia. He has good and friendly relationships with President Vladimir Putin, based not on politics, but on sincerity. However, Fillon also respects the UK; his wife is a citizen of the kingdom.

Nevertheless, all three leading candidates more or less understand the need to cooperate with Russia.