2016 The Republicans (France) presidential primary

The Republicans presidential primary, 2016

20–27 November 2016[1] 2021 →

Candidate François Fillon Alain Juppé Party LR LR Popular vote (1st) 1,890,266 1,224,855 Share (1st) 44.08% 28.56% Popular vote (2nd) 2,919,874 1,471,898 Share (2nd) 66.49% 33.51%

Results of the first round by department and region

Results of the second round by department and region

Previous UMP nominee Nicolas Sarkozy LR nominee François Fillon

The Republicans held a presidential primary election, officially called the open primary of the right and centre (French: primaire ouverte de la droite et du centre), to select a candidate for the 2017 presidential election. It took place on 20 November 2016, with a runoff on 27 November since no candidate obtained at least 50% of the vote in the first round.^[1] It was the first time an open primary had been held for The Republicans or its predecessor parties.^[2]

In the first round of The Republicans primary on 20 November, François Fillon won an upset victory with 44% of the vote, while Alain Juppé—long held by most opinion polls as the favourite to win the nomination—came in a distant second with 29%. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was projected to come in second behind Juppé, was eliminated with just under 21% of the vote.

In the runoff round, Fillon won by an even larger margin with nearly twice as many votes as Juppé (66.5% to 33.5%). Of the six departments and similar areas won by Sarkozy in the first round, all switched to Fillon in the runoff. Similarly, of the thirteen departments and similar areas that originally voted for Juppé, eight switched to Fillon in the second round. The constituency for French residents overseas was won by Juppé in the first round and Fillon in the second round.