PARIS (Sputnik) – French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve replaced Tuesday Manuel Valls who resigned as the prime minister of the country, the Liberation newspaper reported.
France's Valls quits as PM, to be replaced by interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) 6 декабря 2016 г.
"I have appointed Bernard Cazeneuve the prime minister and have ordered him to form a new government," Hollande wrote in his Twitter.
J'ai nommé @BCazeneuve Premier Ministre et je l'ai chargé de former le nouveau gouvernement.
— François Hollande (@fhollande) 6 декабря 2016 г.
According to local media outlets, Valls tendered his resignation to French President Francois Hollande in a 30-minute meeting at the Elysee palace.
Valls announced he would be resigning on Monday in order to run for president in 2017.
Hollande's former economy minister Emmanuel Macron and Left Party founder Jean-Luc Melenchon refused to run as the Socialist Party candidates, clearing the way for Valls.
The primaries of the left will take place on January 22 and 29, 2017.
French biggest center-right party The Republicans has chosen former Prime Minister Francois Fillon as its presidential candidate.
The polls so far seem to indicate that the deeply divided left, burdened with the unpopularity of the two terms of the Socialist government, is not likely to produce a strong presidential candidate and the final race may well be between far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and Fillon. According to other local media outlets, Valls tendered his resignation to French President Francois Hollande in a 30-minute meeting at the Elysee palace.
Valls announced he would be resigning on Monday in order to run for president in 2017.