In today’s unique national primary French Republicans are voting on who’ll be the one to take on Marine Le Pen
The 2017 French Presidential election now the biggest political betting market
There’s a unique election taking place in France today with members of the public who declare themselves to be Republican party supporters able to vote in a national primary to decide who’ll be the flag-carrier next April.
The rules of the primary are straightforward. If no contender secures 50% of the vote today then the top two will fight again in a runoff next week. This is exactly the same system as is used in the main election itself.
Based on current polling the chances are that the final two next spring with be the right-wing National Front leader, Marine Le Pen, and the winner of the Republican race.
The primary polling suggests today’ vote could be very tight. The former PM and long-standing favourite, Alan Juppé, is just ahead of François Fillon and the ex-president, Nicolas Sarkozy.
There has been a huge amount of UK betting interest in Marine Le Pen following Trump’s victory in the US.
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It should be noted that people in France are unable to access online betting sites in the UK which means that unlike BREXIT those who are having a punt are less likely to be voters themselves.