PARIS, Jan 29 (Reuters) - France's Socialists on Sunday picked leftwinger Benoit Hamon as their candidate for the presidential election over pro-business ex-prime minister Manuel Valls, partial results showed.
Hamon, an ex-education minister who was dismissed from Socialist President Francois Hollande's government for criticising a pro-business shift in policy, won 58.65 percent of the vote, according to the results announced by organisers based on 60 percent of polling stations having reported results.
The victory of Hamon, who opinion polls indicate is very likely to be eliminated in the first round of the presidential election on April 23, will provide centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron with a big group of middle-ground voters to aim at and a better chance of beating his close rivals on the right and far-right, political commentators say.
(Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Richard Balmforth)