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1st LD Writethru: Hamon wins Left primary, cruises to France's presidential race: early results

Xinhua, January 30, 2017 Adjust font size:

Benoit Hamon, French former education minister and traditional left-winger, on Sunday became the Left candidate for upcoming presidential election after beating his rival Manuel Valls in the primary run-off, partial results showed.

With votes in 4,322 polling stations out of 7,500 sites accounted, Hamon enjoyed a comfortable win with 58.65 percent of votes ahead of former prime minister Valls' 41.35 percent, according to the results.

Hamon, 49, had long trailed in vote intentions before he made a spectacular surge after three televised debates. During the debates, he styled himself as the unifier of beleaguered Left party which suffered severe rifts during the time of President Francois Hollande.

Hamon resigned from Hollande's government as education minister in protest over what he said was a too liberal economic policy.

During his campaign, Hamon proposed a universal basic income for every single French citizen aged over 18, regardless of whether they are employed or not.

He also vowed to repeal the controversial labor reform which aims to soften job market rules and offer more flexibility to companies, in the case of his election. Endit