Thatcher-admirer Fillon wins French conservative presidential ticket

Hardline reformist Francois Fillon scored a resounding win in France’s conservative primaries on Sunday, making him favorite to win a presidential election five months from now against the popular far-right and a deeply divided left.

Fillon, a former prime minister who wants to raise the retirement age, cut back social security and scrap the 35-hour working week, would easily beat National Front leader Marine Le Pen in a run-off second round, a flash opinion poll said right after his primaries victory.

But to do that, the 62-year old former prime minister and admirer of late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher now faces the challenge of bringing voters behind a program that promises radical change.

I must now convince the whole country our project is the only one that can lift us up, for jobs, growth and to fight those fanatics that declared war on us,” a visibly moved Fillon said at his campaign headquarters.

“I will take up an unusual challenge for France: tell the truth and completely change its software,” said Fillon, a racing car enthusiast who lives in a Loire valley chateau.

With votes from nearly all of 10,229 polling stations counted, Fillon had won 66.5 percent of the votes in the primaries organized by the center-right Les Republicains party.

Next year’s presidentials in the euro zone’s second-largest economy are shaping up to be another test of the strength of anti-establishment parties in Western countries, with French voters angry with stubbornly high unemployment and fearful after a wave of Islamist militant Attacks.

In a country that saw months of street protests earlier this year against labor reforms that are much milder than those Fillon proposes, his far-reaching plans give both the ruling Socialists and Le Pen’s National Front (FN) some hope that they can make a comeback.