The ruling French Socialist Party on Friday confirmed Harlem Desir had been elected as its new leader, replacing former first secretary Martine Aubry, local media reported.

Partial polling results showed Desir won 72.3 percent of the vote against 27.97 percent by his rival Emmanuel Maurel in a party congress in the southwest city of Toulouse on Thursday.

"The party members gave me confidence. It is a great honor," Desir said after winning the election, making him the first black politician to lead a ruling French party.

"The outcome of the vote came as no surprise," local channel France24 commented in its report. Desir was appointed as delegate first secretary of the Socialist Party ever since Lille city mayor Martine Aubry stepped down in June 2011 to take part in presidential primaries.

"I welcome the election of Harlem Desir as head of the Socialist party," Aubry commented, adding a "new generation" had risen to lead the party.

53-year-old Desir's father is from Martinique while his mother is from Alsace in northeast France. He studied at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University where he earned a degree in philosophy in 1983.

In 1984, he founded the French anti-racist organisation SOS Racisme and served as its president till 1992. He eventually joined the Socialist camp in 1994 and became a member of the European Parliament in 1999, a position that gave him legitimacy as a lawmaker but that gave him little visibility among the French public.

His big break came last year after he stepped up to take over Aubry's job and organised successful Socialist primaries.

Politicians see his election to the top post of the ruling party as a move of placing him on a political fast track to the French presidency.