France's Royal chases first-woman-president dream

Segolene Royal began her campaign to become France’s first woman president in style, decisively beating two rivals to wrap up the nomination for the main opposition Socialist Party in a single round of voting.

Last night’s victory, which party officials announced with about 40% of votes counted, spared Royal, 53, a second round against her two rivals from the party’s old guard, former prime minister Laurent Fabius and ex-finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

It also means she can head into the April vote claiming the often-divided opposition party is fully behind her.

“The results show rather clearly the fact that there will only be one round, and we can say that Segolene Royal is already the candidate for the Socialist Party,” said Stephane Le Foll, chief of staff to the party’s general secretary.

By the final tally, Royal won 60.62% of votes, Strauss-Kahn had 20.83% and Fabius collected 18.54%, Le Foll said. About 82% of the 219,000 party members eligible to vote cast ballots.

Royal, speaking confidently shortly before her victory was formally announced, said she “recognised the honour I have been given” and “the momentum I’ve received to be chosen this way”.

“The hour now is for unity,” she said.

However, that could be a tall order for her party, which has repeatedly battled divisions during the tenure of conservative president Jacques Chirac, who has won the presidency in both elections since 1995.

The Socialists, who dominated the French political scene a generation ago, have been searching for direction since former prime minister Lionel Jospin’s embarrassing third-place finish in the last presidential vote, in 2002.

The party also has been licking its wounds since the national referendum on the European Union Constitution last year, which caused a massive rift in the party – and French voters overall rejected it.

Although a spectrum of candidates from far left to far right are gearing up to run in the presidential election, the centrepiece of the race is likely to be a battle between Royal and the front runner on the mainstream right, interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

A poll published Thursday showed respondents equally split between the two. In a first round of voting, Sarkozy would edge out Royal by 34% to 30%, the poll said, but in a run-off, they would be at 50-50. The IFOP agency conducted the poll from November 9-11 by telephone among 948 respondents. No margin of error was given.