MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Republicans is currently in the middle of a presidential election campaign with a sole candidate to run for the French presidency in 2017 from the party to be determined Sunday. The main contenders for the nomination are two former prime ministers, Francois Fillon and Alain Juppe.
"We see that this second round campaign is essentially focused on 'societal' issues because there is a real expectation of the French on these issues… These are important subjects that were too neglected in the first part of the campaign, when terrorism, Islam and the economy were widely treated," Poisson, who heads a minor Christian Democratic Party, said.
While Fillon reiterated that the family was “certainly not a place for dangerous social experimentation”, Juppe, who is currently the mayor of Bordeaux, stated many times his opposition to reviewing the already adopted law on gay marriage, saying that "youth, including some raised in the Catholic religion, now finds it normal for homosexuals to be able to marry civilly."
"The family has been a major issue in recent years in France and there have been multiple attacks against it. Abortion remains a sensitive issue, and I regret that it is used as a political weapon when it should be a matter of reflection," Poisson added, mentioning another hot topic at the debates between Fillon and Juppe.
Fillon is currently leading in The Republicans' primaries. He won more than 40 percent of votes over 28 percent for Juppe in the first round. According to the Elabe pollster, Fillon sounded much more convincing at the TV debates on Thursday to 71 percent of conservative and center-right voters.