Socialist Party

Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon picked up new backing on Feb. 23 in the rollercoaster French presidential race, as the nation's left aims to forge a united front with polls just months away.

Environmentalist Yannick Jadot dropped out and threw his support behind Hamon, while Communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon said he was "open to discussion."

Primary elections of political parties continue in France three months before the presidential elections.

On Monday, the biggest surprise came from the Socialists camp. The winner in the first round of the elections turned out to be Benoît Hamon, former Education Minister at the beginning of the presidency of François Hollande.

Marine Le Pen has overtaken French presidential favourite François Fillon to become the frontrunner in the latest first round election poll.

The Front National leader is now polling at 26.5 per cent, a lead of 1.5 per cent over former Conservative Prime Minister Fillon.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was appointed as the new prime minister on Dec. 6 after Manuel Valls resigned to seek the Socialist nomination in the presidential election, the presidency said.

Serbia's canny Prime Minister could go for joint presidential and parliamentary elections in spring 2017 in order to mobilize voters and boost the chances of his party's presidential candidate, experts say.

French President Francois Hollande dramatically announced Dec. 1 he would not seek re-election next April at the end of his five-year term as he bowed to historic low approval ratings.

The withdrawal means the 62-year-old Socialist will be the first president of France's fifth republic, founded in 1958, to quit after just one term.

Ben Blushi, one of the most outspoken MPs in Albania's ruling Socialist Party, on Friday said he was quitting the party.

Over the last three years he has become a persistent critic of party leader and Prime Minister Edi Rama, accusing him of undermining internal democracy and of making serious mistakes in government.

One-day contracts introduced for agricultural work contravene labor legislation, the head of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) said on Sunday.

Mihail Mikov made his remarks at a rally celebrating May 01, the international Labor Day, in the capital Sofia.

France's prime minister, Manuel Valls, said yesterday he will not commit blackmail by threatening to resign, as the government is facing opposition to pass the new labor reform. 

Rama, who has led the Socialist Party since 2005, has expressed his intention to partially remove the 'one member, one vote' selection principle for party officials.