Ex-prime minister Fillon, 62, will now become a favourite to be France's next leader after winning the US-style primary to pick the nominee of the Republicans party and its allies. Near-complete results showed him winning 66.5 percent of the vote, with ballots counted from 9,915 polling stations out of 10,229. France wants the truth and France wants action," he told cheering supporters after Juppe, a centrist, conceded defeat. Fillon wants closer ties with the Kremlin and has called for the European Union to lift its sanctions on Moscow imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2014. On Sunday, he accused Fillon of having a retrograde vision of French society and appealed to "progressives of the left, right and centre" to join his camp.

Source: The Nation Bangkok November 28, 2016 00:11 UTC