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		</div><p>Francois Fillon has won France&#8217;s first-ever conservative presidential primary after promising drastic free-market reforms and a crackdown on immigration and Islamic extremism.</p>
<p>He beat more moderate rival Alain Juppe, who had warned of encroaching populism.<br />
<i>&#8220;President! President!&#8221;</i> chanted the former prime minister&#8217;s supporters as he declared victory over Mr Juppe in a nationwide run-off election.</p>
<p>Polls suggest 62-year-old Mr Fillon, prime minister from 2007 to 2012 under ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, would have a good chance of winning the French presidency in the April-May election.</p>
<p>Mr Fillon campaigned on promises of slashing public spending, capping immigration, support for traditional family values and friendlier ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin.</p>
<p>Mr Fillon enjoyed a surprise surge in popularity in recent weeks over long-time front-runner Mr Juppe, who also previously served as the country&#8217;s prime minister.</p>
<p>In a sober victory speech, Mr Fillon promised to defend &#8220;French values&#8221; and said France needs <i>&#8220;a complete change of software&#8221;.</i></p>
<p><i>&#8220;There is in our country an immense need for respect and pride. There is also a call for the authority of the state, and exemplary behaviour by those who lead it,&#8221;</i> he said.</p>
<p>Mr Fillon, whom Mr Juppe had accused of running a divisive campaign that catered to the far right, struck a slightly more inclusive tone on Sunday night.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;No one should feel excluded from a society that I want to see more just and with more solidarity,&#8221;</i> he said.</p>
<p>Mr Juppe, 71, congratulated Mr Fillon on his <i>&#8220;wide victory&#8221;.</i></p>
<p>During the primary campaign, he expressed similar ideas as his rival on the French economy, but tried to rally conservatives around a more tolerant attitude towards France&#8217;s ethnic, religious and social diversity.</p>
<p>Based on results from about 88% of polling stations, organisers of the centre-right Republicans party primary said Mr Fillon led with 67% of the vote compared to 33% for Mr Juppe.</p>
<p>Mr Fillon&#8217;s toughest challenge ahead is likely to be far-right leader Marine Le Pen. She is running an anti-establishment campaign that particularly targets immigrants, France&#8217;s large Muslim minority, and the European Union.</p>
<p>Socialist president Francois Hollande is expected to announce in the coming weeks whether he will seek re-election, but the French left has been deeply weakened by Mr Hollande&#8217;s extreme unpopularity.</p>
<figure id="attachment_100141" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-100141" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/AlainJuppeFrancoisFillonNov2016_large.jpg"><img src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/AlainJuppeFrancoisFillonNov2016_large.jpg" alt="Francois Fillon and conservative rival Alain Juppe." width="600" height="325" class="size-full wp-image-100141" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-100141" class="wp-caption-text">Francois Fillon and conservative rival Alain Juppe.</figcaption></figure>
<p>Both Mr Fillon and Mr Juppe are high-profile leaders of the Republicans party who knocked their former boss &#8211; Mr Sarkozy &#8211; out of the primary&#8217;s first round of voting a week ago. Mr Sarkozy then threw his weight behind Mr Fillon.</p>
<p>Sunday&#8217;s run-off came after a bruising and highly adversarial end phase to the months-long primary contest, an American-style effort to end party infighting and bolster support for the party&#8217;s nominee.</p>
<p>The conservatives previously chose their candidate internally.</p>
<p>Mr Fillon, a conservative Catholic who opposed France&#8217;s law legalising same-sex marriages, said he plans to reduce immigration to France <i>&#8220;to a minimum&#8221;</i> &#8211; positioning himself firmly to Mr Juppe&#8217;s right.</p>
<p>Mr Fillon wants to drop sanctions against Russia over its aggressive actions in Ukraine and partner with Russia in the fight against Islamic State extremists. Mr Fillon insists &#8220;Russia poses no threat&#8221; to the West, while Mr Juppe wants France to continue putting pressure on Mr Putin on various fronts.</p>
<p>They both pledged to cut public spending, reduce the number of civil servants, raise the retirement age from 62 to 65, end the 35-hour work week and cut business taxes.</p>
<p>All French citizens over 18 &#8211; whether they are members of the Republicans party or not &#8211; were eligible to vote in the primary, if they paid two euro in fees and signed a pledge stating they <i>&#8220;share the republican values of the right and the centre&#8221;.</i></p>
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