paris<u+2014> fran<u+00e7>ois fillon, a free-market social conservative , won france<u+2019>s center-right primary by a landslide, positioning him as the leading mainstream candidate to take on national front leader marine le pen in the presidential election this spring. mr. fillon, a former prime minister who compares himself to ronald reagan and margaret thatcher, resoundingly defeated bordeaux mayor alain jupp<u+00e9> in the runoff of the r<u+00e9>publicains <u+2019> primary late sunday, garnering 66.5% of votes according to counts from 96% of polling stations. in a year of surprises<u+2014>from the u.k. vote to leave the european union to donald trump <u+2019>s election <u+2014>the french conservative<u+2019>s surge from underdog to the european establishment<u+2019>s best hope of defeating ms. le pen adds more uncertainty to france<u+2019>s presidential race . mr. fillon<u+2019>s commanding victory capped a tumultuous week that nixed long-established predictions. just two weeks ago polls had shown mr. jupp<u+00e9>, a centrist with bipartisan appeal, with a comfortable lead . <u+201c>i gradually felt this wave that smashed all the scenarios written ahead of time,<u+201d> mr. fillon said. the upset forces france<u+2019>s mainstream parties to rethink their approach to ms. le pen, an anti-immigrant euroskeptic who polls show would easily reach the second-round runoff of the presidential election in may. with the more staunchly conservative mr. fillon as the center-right<u+2019>s standard-bearer, the party will come under more pressure to drive turnout among right-leaning voters. mr. jupp<u+00e9>, who conceded defeat sunday night, had campaigned on his ability to beat ms. le pen by building a broad coalition of voters, spanning from the center-right to the left. a poll by harris interactive of 640 people voting in the primary, which was open to voters of all political stripes, showed that 29% of those who voted for mr. jupp<u+00e9> were leftists and 19% described themselves as centrists. phito paniague, a 55-year-old retiree who said he typically votes left, said he, for instance, voted for mr. jupp<u+00e9> as <u+201c>a barrier to le pen.<u+201d> mr. fillon<u+2019>s platform is more polarizing. he calls for deep spending cuts , loosening labor laws that protect workers and tax breaks for businesses and the rich. if elected president, mr. fillon says he would slash half a million public-sector jobs and <u+20ac>100 billion ($106 billion) in public spending, abolish the 35-hour workweek and raise the retirement age. during the primary campaign, he went to lengths to show his attachment to conservative family values. mr. fillon, who voted against gay marriage in 2013, says he would roll back parts of the law related to same-sex couples<u+2019> right to adopt and said he would lead an international campaign against surrogacy. that platform angers many leftist voters that the republicains have counted on to beat the national front in past elections. only 18% of people who voted sunday for mr. fillon came from the left or the center, the harris interactive poll showed. <u+201c>fillon<u+2019>s politics are very much those of the past, like margaret thatcher,<u+201d> said lea boulogne, a 23-year-old student and leftist who voted for mr. jupp<u+00e9>. opinion polls show leftist candidates trail far behind, leaving mr. fillon with little opposition from mainstream parties. a survey by polling company odoxa of 998 people on friday showed mr. fillon and ms. le pen would qualify for the runoff in a presidential election. mr. fillon would win that vote easily with 71% to 29% for ms. le pen, according to the poll. this year, however, voters across the west have stunned pollsters and pundits by defying predictions. in addition, few polls have tested mr. fillon as a presidential candidate, and his rivals haven<u+2019>t begun campaigning in earnest. c<u+00e9>line bracq, a senior director at odoxa, said mr. fillon<u+2019>s austere economic program could mobilize leftist voters and help unite president fran<u+00e7>ois hollande <u+2019>s divided socialist party. the national front, meanwhile, could solidify its support among blue-collar workers by attacking mr. fillon<u+2019>s pledges to cut wealth taxes and raise taxes on consumer goods. <u+201c>mr. fillon has launched into orbit, but it could become very complicated.<u+201d> ms. bracq said. the vice president of the national front, florian philippot, was quick to attack mr. fillon<u+2019>s program on sunday, saying it was the same austerity recipe that the european commission had imposed upon greece. <u+201c>it is terrible for the middle class, for poor pensioners, and for the working class, but it yields no economic result,<u+201d> mr. philippot said on french television on sunday. the people who voted in sunday<u+2019>s primary represent only a small slice of the french electorate<u+2014>around 4 million out of a population of around 66 million. for now, mr. fillon is drawing support from voters such as olivier jurga, a 38-year-old engineer who said the candidate<u+2019>s ability to beat ms. le pen played no role in his decision to vote for the former prime minister. mr. jurga said he chose mr. fillon on the strength of his pledges to overhaul the economy. <u+201c>this is a real program of the right,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>fillon understands we<u+2019>re in global competition with other countries. every country needs to attract foreign capital.<u+201d> write to william horobin at william.horobin@wsj.com and stacy meichtry at stacy.meichtry@wsj.com
fran<u+00e7>ois fillon wins french conservative primary, upsetting race for president - wsj
william horobin stacy meichtry