French Socialists are set to choose their candidate for this year's presidential election today in a runoff pitting pro-business ex-premier Manuel Valls against hard-left lawmaker Benoit Hamon.<br/><br/>Hamon, who is often compared to British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, is favourite to beat Valls in the primary's head-to-head vote, but has little chance of winning the presidential race proper after five years of unpopular Socialist rule. <br/><br/>Opinion polls have shown neither men would garner enough support to reach the election's runoff in May, and were likely to come in a humiliating fifth place in the first round behind centrist Emmanuel Macron and left-winger Jean-Luc Melenchon.<br/><br/>The two frontrunners are conservative Francois Fillon, currently embroiled in a scandal over his wife's work as his parliamentary assistant, and far-right leader Marine Le Pen. But although the Socialist candidate has little chance of succeeding President Francois Hollande at the Elysee palace, the winner of today's vote will help decide the fortune of other candidates.