Hard-left Socialist Party candidate Benoit Hamon is heading for an emphatic victory in French presidential primaries, with official results showing him taking nearly 60 per cent of the vote.
Hailing his win, Hamon said the results signalled a desire to modernise and reinvigorate the leftist party, which has suffered from the term of highly unpopular President Francois Hollande.
"Tonight, the left raises its head, it turns toward the future, and it wants to win," Hamon, 49, said.
The second-round election between Hamon and former premier Manuel Valls, 54, pitted the former education minister's boldly leftist agenda against Valls' assurances of consistency based on his governing experience.
Hamon has advocated for a reduction of working hours and a universal income.
Conceding defeat Valls warned against the growing wave of political populism and and its potential damage to democracy.
He added that Hamon, "from now on, is the candidate of our political family," and wished him good luck.
Hamon will now likely face Francois Fillon of the conservative Les Republicains, former economy minister Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front, among others, in the two-round presidential election set for April 23 and May 7.
