PARIS -- Francois Fillon won France's first-ever conservative presidential primary Sunday after promising drastic free-market changes and a crackdown on immigration and Islamic extremism, beating a more moderate rival who had warned of encroaching populism.

"President! President!" chanted the former prime minister's supporters as he declared victory over Alain Juppe in a nationwide runoff election.

Polls suggest the 62-year-old Fillon, prime minister from 2007-12 under former President Nicolas Sarkozy, would have a good chance of winning the French presidency in the April-May election.

Fillon campaigned on promises of slashing public spending, capping immigration, support for traditional family values and friendlier ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Fillon enjoyed a surprise surge in popularity in recent weeks over longtime front-runner Juppe, who also previously served as the country's prime minister.

In a sober victory speech, Fillon promised to defend "French values" and said France needs "a complete change of software."

"There is in our country an immense need for respect and pride. There is also a call for the authority of the state, and exemplary behavior by those who lead it," he said.

Fillon, whom Juppe had accused of running a divisive campaign that catered to the far right, struck a slightly more inclusive tone Sunday night.

"No one should feel excluded from a society that I want to see more just and with more solidarity," he said.

Juppe, 71, congratulated Fillon on his "wide victory." During the primary campaign, he expressed similar ideas as his rival on the French economy, but tried to rally conservatives around a more tolerant attitude toward France's ethnic, religious and social diversity.

On the basis of results from about 88 percent of polling stations, organizers of the center-right Republicans party primary said Fillon led with 67 percent of the vote compared with 33 percent for Juppe.

Fillon will campaign against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who is running an anti-establishment campaign that particularly targets immigrants, France's large Muslim minority group, and the European Union.

Socialist President Francois Hollande is expected to announce in the coming weeks whether he will seek re-election, but the French left has been deeply weakened by Hollande's extreme unpopularity.

Both Fillon and Juppe are high-profile leaders of the Republicans party who knocked Sarkozy, their former boss, out of the primary's first round of voting a week ago. Sarkozy then threw his support behind Fillon.

Sunday's runoff came after a bruising and highly adversarial end phase to the monthslong primary contest, an American-style effort to end party infighting and bolster support for the party's nominee. The conservatives previously chose their candidate internally.

Fillon, a conservative Catholic who opposed France's law legalizing same-sex marriages, said he plans to reduce immigration to France "to a minimum" -- positioning himself firmly to Juppe's right.

Fillon wants to drop sanctions against Russia over its aggressive actions in Ukraine and partner with Russia in the fight against Islamic State extremists. Fillon insists "Russia poses no threat" to the West, while Juppe wants France to continue putting pressure on Putin on various fronts.

They both pledged to cut public spending, reduce the number of civil servants, raise the retirement age from 62 to 65, end the 35-hour work week and cut business taxes.

All French citizens over 18 -- whether they are members of the Republicans party or not -- were eligible to vote in the primary, if they paid 2 euros in fees and signed a pledge stating that they "share the republican values of the right and the center."

Information for this article was contributed by Thomas Adamson of The Associated Press. </s> PARIS (Reuters) - French voters defied expectations on Sunday by throwing ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy out of the race to be the conservatives’ nominee for the presidential election and propelling his ex-prime minister Francois Fillon to top spot.

French politician Francois Fillon (R), member of the conservative Les Republicains political party, arrives after partial results in the first round of the French center-right presidential primary election at his headquarters in Paris, France, November 20, 2016. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A social conservative with economically liberal ideas, Fillon will face Alain Juppe, another ex-prime minister, in a runoff on Nov. 27 which is likely to produce France’s next president in May.

Long trailing his rivals in opinion polls, Fillon goes into the conservative primaries’ run-off with a strong lead, the backing of defeated candidates including Sarkozy and a fresh poll that already tips him to win that second round.

“I’m telling all the French, no matter who they voted for, that change is on its way to lift France up,” Fillon, an admirer of late British prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, told supporters.

“My fellow Frenchmen have told me, everywhere, they want to break away from a bureaucratic system which saps their energy; everywhere they told me their desire for authority,” said 62-year-old Fillon, who is a rare economic liberal in largely statist France.

Juppe, a moderate 71-year-old conservative campaigning on an inclusive, “happy identity” platform, had for months been ahead in polls for both the primaries and the presidential election.

But he struggled to fire up voters as the election neared and seems to have suffered from constant attacks by Sarkozy calling him soft and branding him as being “hostage” to centrist allies.

Once Fillon, long considered a political has-been, saw his ratings improve just over a week ago after good performances in televised debates, Juppe lost some of the “anti-Sarkozy” tactical vote to him.

Sounding downcast late on Sunday, Juppe told supporters he would “carry on fighting” and billed himself as the best option to defeat far-right party leader Marine Le Pen, whom polls predict will make it to the second round of the presidential elections.

With the Left very divided and a majority of voters telling pollsters they are opposed to seeing the far-right National Front in power, the chosen center-right nominee is likely to defeat Le Pen in an expected election run-off next May.

But while polls have consistently shown Juppe would easily beat Le Pen, there are far fewer surveys on how Fillon would fare in such a match, in further evidence of how unexpected his top spot on Sunday was.

Polls have shown that Fillon, who had received backing by opponents of France’s gay marriage laws, is much less popular than Juppe amid left-wing voters, which could make it harder for him to get their vote versus Le Pen.

A BVA poll in September did however show him beating Le Pen with 61 percent of votes compared with 39 percent for Le Pen were they to fight off in the presidentials’ runoff, while Juppe would score 66 percent vs the far-right leader.

SARKOZY COMEBACK FAILS

Sarkozy, who was president in 2007-2012, was long considered a safe bet for the second round after campaigning on a hardline law-and-order platform that sought to tap into concerns over migration and security.

But that strategy, though popular among grassroots voters of Les Republicains party, alienated the centrist and leftwing voters who took part in the primaries and massively backed Juppe, a Harris Interactive poll showed.

Sarkozy conceded defeat and said he would now back Fillon in the runoff.

“It’s time for me to try a life with more private passions than public ones,” he said.

Slideshow (22 Images)

According to results based on 9,437 polling stations out of a total 10,229, Fillon was seen garnering 44.2 percent of the votes, Juppe 28.5 percent and Sarkozy 20.6 percent, with close to 4 million votes counted.

Fillon is seen winning next Sunday’s primaries’ runoff with 56 percent of the votes vs 44 percent for Juppe, according to the OpinionWay poll carried out amid 3,095 voters who took part in the first round of the primaries this Sunday.

The ruling Socialists and their allies are holding their own primaries in January. Socialist President Francois Hollande, who is deeply unpopular, has yet to announce whether he himself will stand again. </s> Francois Fillon smiles after delivering a speech after the conservative presidential primary on Sunday, in Paris. | Photo Credit: Kamil Zihnioglu

Francois Fillon won France’s first-ever conservative presidential primary on Sunday after promising drastic free-market reforms and a crackdown on immigration and Islamic extremism, beating a more moderate rival who had warned of encroaching populism.

“President! President!” chanted the former prime minister’s supporters as he declared victory over Alain Juppe in a nationwide runoff election.

Polls suggest the 62-year-old Fillon, prime minister from 2007—2012 under ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy, would have a good chance of winning the French presidency in the April—May election.

Mr. Fillon campaigned on promises of slashing public spending, capping immigration, support for traditional family values and friendlier ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Fillon enjoyed a surprise surge in popularity in recent weeks over longtime front-runner Mr. Juppe, who also previously served as the country’s prime minister.

In a sober victory speech, Mr. Fillon promised to defend “French values” and said France needs “a complete change of software.”

“There is in our country an immense need for respect and pride. There is also a call for the authority of the state, and exemplary behavior by those who lead it,” he said.

Mr. Fillon, whom Mr. Juppe had accused of running a divisive campaign that catered to the far right, struck a slightly more inclusive tone Sunday night.

“No one should feel excluded from a society that I want to see more just and with more solidarity,” he said.

Mr. Juppe (71), congratulated Mr. Fillon on his “wide victory.” During the primary campaign, he expressed similar ideas as his rival on the French economy, but tried to rally conservatives around a more tolerant attitude toward France’s ethnic, religious and social diversity.

Based on results from about 88 percent of polling stations, organizers of the center-right Republicans party primary said Mr. Fillon led with 67 per cent of the vote compared to 33 per cent for Mr. Juppe.

Mr. Fillon’s toughest challenge ahead is likely to be far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Ms. Le Pen is running an anti-establishment campaign that particularly targets immigrants, France’s large Muslim minority, and the European Union.

Socialist President Francois Hollande is expected to announce in the coming weeks whether he will seek re-election, but the French left has been deeply weakened by Mr. Hollande’s extreme unpopularity.

Both Mr. Fillon and Mr. Juppe are high-profile leaders of the Republicans party who knocked their former boss former President Nicolas Sarkozy out of the primary’s first round of voting a week ago. Sarkozy then threw his weight behind Mr. Fillon.

Sunday’s runoff came after a bruising and highly adversarial end phase to the months-long primary contest, an American-style effort to end party infighting and bolster support for the party’s nominee. The conservatives previously chose their candidate internally.

Mr. Fillon, a conservative Catholic who opposed France’s law legalizing same-sex marriages, said he plans to reduce immigration to France “to a minimum” positioning himself firmly to Mr. Juppe’s right.

Mr. Fillon wants to drop sanctions against Russia over its aggressive actions in Ukraine and partner with Russia in the fight against Islamic State extremists. Mr. Fillon insists “Russia poses no threat” to the West, while Mr. Juppe wants France to continue putting pressure on Mr. Putin on various fronts.

They both pledged to cut public spending, reduce the number of civil servants, raise the retirement age from 62 to 65, end the 35-hour work week and cut business taxes.

All French citizens over 18 whether they are members of the Republicans party or not were eligible to vote in the primary, if they paid 2 euros in fees and signed a pledge stating they “share the republican values of the right and the center.”
François Fillon wins in a landslide with two-thirds of the vote (90% counted). Alain Juppé subsequently concedes defeat and says he will support Fillon for President.