France: Ségolène Royal in shock political comeback

The Telegraph ^ | 11/8/08 | Henry Samuel in Paris

[bruinbirdman]

Ségolène Royal has scored a shock political comeback after a vote placed her in pole position to lead the French Left.

Miss Royal was defeated by Nicolas Sarkozy in presidential polls last year and faded from the frontline of politics in France. But at a meeting of her Socialist party on Thursday night, her "motion" - a list of priorities for the Socialist party and seen as a gauge of her popularity - won the greatest support of a shortlist of six candidates to lead the Left in a poll of party members.

She will now face a final vote on Nov 20 which will determine who leads the Socialists as they seek to unseat Mr Sarkozy.

Miss Royal beat Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor of Paris, into second place, exacting revenge on her former partner and presetn party leader François Hollande who had backed Mr Delanoe to succeed him.

Mr Delanoe had been the clear favourite to win the party's backing. But 29 per cent of party members voted for Miss Royal, leaving Mr Delanoe with 25 per cent and in joint second place with Martine Aubry, the mayor of Lille and the architect of France's controversial 35-hour working week.

While failing to secure an outright majority, Miss Royal's victory was sweet as it silenced a growing throng of "elephants" - party old-timers many of whom back Mr Delanoe - who saw her as standing no chance of recovering from her defeat to Mr Sarkozy.

They were quick to mock her a month ago after she staged a touchy-feely one-woman show, asking the audience to chant "fraternity" and quoting Cyrano de Bergerac.

Clearly targeting the father of her four children and his political legacy, Miss Royal said that the party vote reflected a "clear desire for

[Thane_Banquo]

to lead the French Left.

This statement implies there is a French right, which is doubtful to say the least.

[Cicero]

Well, she’s just as qualified to lead as Obama.

[krb]

Nah dude, they have a right. They don’t ALL think that a 2 hour work week is the way to prosperity.

[whitedog57]

She actually has a degree in economics and KNOWS socialism doesn’t work. But she would rather have the POWER!!!!!

[Dr. Ursus]

How do you say cockoo in French?

[xc1427]

Koo-koo horloge is French for Koo-koo clock. It’s the best I can do.

[Dr. Ursus]

I’ll take it.Thanks

[fieldmarshaldj]

Yup. It’s three hours.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Leftist France gloats at capitalism’s failings - October 21, 2008 - Segolene Royal, the Socialist presidential candidate who lost to Sarkozy, blames Ronald Reagan for having “contaminated” Europe with his belief that big government was a problem. “What do we see today?” she asked in a speech Oct. 15. “We see that state intervention is an essential part of the solution while unregulated markets are precisely the problem.”