Benoit Hamon has won the Socialist party's primary to choose its candidate for France's presidential election.

With 75% of the votes counted, the hard-left Mr Hamon was on almost 59%, compared to 41% for former prime minister Manuel Valls.

Mr Valls, who is considered closer to the centre ground of French politics, has conceded defeat, saying Mr Hamon is "now our candidate".

Mr Hamon said: "Tonight the French left is holding its head high, is turning to the future and wants to win."

He added: "Of course, there are many reasons to be worried and the world around us is more unstable than ever.


Image: Former prime minister Manuel Valls was closer to the centre ground

"The accession to power of Donald Trump in the US, the pressure Vladimir Putin is exerting on Europe and in the Far East and Middle East, the Islamist terror threat at our door, the ecological perils exerting more pressure on nature.

"But everybody can see that if we tackle all this with fear in our chest, we will end up with candidates of fear - so I want to unite the French."

The 49-year-old's victory is another upset in an election process seen as highly unpredictable, with the former education minister considered an outsider a matter of weeks ago.

Mr Hamon, who was sacked from President Francois Hollande's government, has a tough job ahead, however, as the Socialists are deeply unpopular.

They will have to win back voters who have been switching allegiance to other candidates.

Dec: Hollande will not stand for re-election

Turnout in Sunday's primary was estimated at around 2 million voters and, while higher than in the first round, it is still suggestive of a lack of enthusiasm among the French electorate of 44 million.

Mr Hollande bowed out of the race and signalled he would not stand for a second term in December.

Favourites to make the last two in May's final round are currently the centre-right Francois Fillon and far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

But another candidate, centrist independent Emmanuel Macron, has been attracting large crowds at his rallies by appealing to both left and right.