France's centre-right Les Républicains party has picked a hardliner from the party's right wing to be its new leader, about nine months after the party, once a mainstay of political power, dropped to its lowest results in national elections.
Éric Ciotti, 57, got 53.7% of the vote in a run-off vote, interim party leader Annie Genevard announced on Sunday.
Originally from France's south-east, he is nicknamed Mr Security by some. Critics say has has blurred the lines between the party's right tilt and right-wing nationalism.
Ciotti had already taken the lead when voting began last weekend. In this weekend's run-off his main competitor, Senator Bruno Retailleau, a 62-year-old liberal conservative, took 46.3% of the vote. About 91,000 party members were eligible to vote.
Party members want to find a way to lay out a clear message after a string of electoral setbacks. The party used to regularly send presidents to Paris. Now the strongest opposition party is the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron, who lost his parliamentary majority in elections this year, will be watching to see if he can work with Les Républicains to get legislation passed. Various factions of Les Républicains have expressed different opinions on their willingness to work with Macron's centrists.
