The contest for the leadership of the Socialist Party will go to a run-off next week between former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and former Education Minister Benoît Hamon.
The winner faces a tough fight to keep the Socialist Party in power after steep declines in popularity for current leader President Francoise Hollande.
Hollande announced he wouldn’t stand for a second term last year, leaving the winner of the leadership ballot to take on the Republican Party’s Francois Fillon and Marine Le Pen, of the far-right Front National, for the Presidency in April.
With half of the votes counted, Hamon, who wants to tax robots, create a universal basic income and recognize “burn out” as a professional ailment, was ahead with 36% of the vote.
Valls followed with around 31%.
Former Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg abandoned the race after coming in third place and urged his supporters to back Hamon.
Hamon, an admirer of US Senator Bernie Sanders, stepped into the political spotlight as part of Francois Hollande’s cabinet in 2014 and again in August 2016 to launch his presidential bid.
Following the results, Hamon tweeted that he would continue to defend the priority given to social issues, the environment and democratic renewal.
Valls, well-known among French voters after serving as Prime Minister from 2014 to 2016, invited his followers to show up next Sunday and vote to make him the official nominee of the Socialist Party.
In December, Hollande — whose approval ratings hit a historic low — announced that he would not seek a second term in office.
It was the first time since 1958, when France’s fifth republic was created, that an incumbent president had not sought re-election.