French leftwinger Benoit Hamon clinched the Socialist nomination to run for president, partial results showed today, as a fresh scandal engulfed conservative election frontrunner Francois Fillon.
Results from a Socialist primary runoff vote showed Hamon beating his centrist rival Manuel Valls with 58.65 per cent of the vote in a clear victory for the traditional left-wing of the party.
"Benoit Hamon won decisively," Valls said in a concession speech.
"Benoit Hamon is henceforth the candidate of our political family," added the former prime minister.
The victory is another upset in an election seen as highly unpredictable, with the 49-year-old former education minister viewed as an outsider only three weeks ago.
His nomination completes the line-up of the main candidates in the two-round election in April and May which pollsters forecast will confirm France's shift to the right after five years of unpopular Socialist rule.
The candidates include rightwing Republicans party frontrunner Francois Fillon, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, as well as centrist Emmanuel Macron who some analysts see as likely to benefit from the Socialists' tilt left.
Fillon, who was also a long-shot until he clinched the Republicans nomination in November, has consistently been tipped to become France's next leader.
But his campaign has been in turmoil since last Wednesday when a newspaper reported his wife had been paid around 500,000 euros (USD 540,000) over eight years for a suspected fake job as a parliamentary aide.
Those allegations have sparked a preliminary judicial enquiry, but there was more bad news for Fillon today.
Investigative website Mediapart and the Journal du Dimanche newspaper reported Fillon had used his parliamentary allowance to pocket up to 25,000 euros while working as a senator.
In a defiant speech today in front of thousands of supporters in Paris, Fillon said he would not let himself be "intimidated".
"It's more than me as a person that is in the crosshairs, it's a higher idea of France that they want to take down mid-flight," he said.
Earlier, in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche, he denounced a "plot" against him and French democracy.
It remains unclear how the allegations will affect him or the outcome of the vote, which is being closely watched after the Brexit referendum in Britain and Donald Trump's triumph in the United States.
After five years of rule by Socialist President Francois Hollande, France is pessimistic about its economic prospects and fearful about terrorism and immigration.
Far-right leader Le Pen believes the nationalist sentiment that influenced British and American voters in 2016 will also carry her to the French presidency in what would be a profound shock for the continent.
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