France's Republicans are betting on a woman for the first time in next year's presidential election, Valérie Pécresse.
The regional council president of the Paris capital region won the last ballot on Saturday with 61 percent of the vote.
Eric Ciotti, who comes from the right wing of the party and has made a name for himself with pithy sayings, received 39 percent of the vote.
Almost 140,000 paying members were asked to cast their votes.
"For the first time in its history, the party of General de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, our political family, will have a female candidate," said Pecresse in a televised address after the results were announced.
The republican right is back.
“We will give our country back its unity, dignity and pride,” said Pécresse.
The Republicans last appointed Nicolas Sarkozy as president from 2007 to 2012.
According to current polls, it is by no means certain that the party will make it to the second round of the election in April 2022.
The current favorite is the incumbent President Emmanuel Macron, who is very likely to run again.
Right-wing populist Marine Le Pen is currently in second place in the polls.
On Thursday there had been a surprise at a previous round of the membership decision.
Former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, who was a favorite in the English-speaking press in particular, was third with 23.93 percent of the vote and was eliminated.
Poll favorite Xavier Bertrand, who heads the Hauts-de-France region, also failed to qualify for the final selection with 22.26 percent of the votes.
The doctor Philippe Juvin received the worst result with 3.13 percent.