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I feel honoured by nomination: Royal

Vaiju Naravane

No-nonsense, pragmatic approach finds a wide appeal

Paris: Segolene Royal, frontrunner in the race for the Socialist Party's nomination for France's 2007 presidential poll, became the first woman in French history to have a credible chance of attaining that high office.

She exceeded her own and her supporters' expectations by winning over 60 per cent of the votes in an internal party election that saw her facing two male candidates, the former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and the former Industry and Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

The 53-year-old former Minister for Education, Environment and Family Affairs, who heads the western Poitou-Charentes region, told supporters she felt "honoured" by the result. The time had come, she said, to rally the left to defeat the right in next April's poll. Her two rivals conceded defeat saying she had scored a convincing victory.

Female President

"France has matured. We now have no problem with the idea of a female President. Indeed the sexist darts that her rivals threw at her boomeranged and went against them," said political sociologist Sophie Lariviere. "Our population is totally disillusioned with the political establishment. Women are known to be less duplicitous. She won because the voters trusted her more. They had seen the performance of Mr. Strauss-Kahn and Mr. Fabius as the big Socialist leaders of this country. The voters had no confidence in them. They are seen as being part of the problem France is facing today. The voters wanted someone fresh with new ideas."

Ms. Royal's no-nonsense pragmatic approach to problems found a wide appeal with the Socialist Party's 2,20,000 cardholders. She has broken away from Socialist orthodoxy by criticising the 35-hour work week, arguing for military camps for repeat delinquent offenders and the setting up of popular "juries" to judge the performance of politicians.

In that sense, she has pushed the debate within the Socialist camp to the right of the political spectrum.

But she has also come in for severe criticism for her lack of experience and grasp of international issues — she confused Iran's military and civilian nuclear programmes. She has also been described as "authoritarian, populist and anti-democratic."

But for the majority of those who voted, she personifies the ideal modern woman — trim and elegant, combining a high-powered job with heavy family responsibilities — Ms. Royal is the mother of four children. Her nomination caused a commotion in the ranks of the ruling UMP party which was holding its congress at the same time as the Socialist vote. Said Regional Development Minister Christian Estrosi, an ally of the Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy who is also UMP president and an "almost candidate": "The presidential campaign is now launched. It's high time we united and led the UMP's candidate to victory."

The UMP's congress was marked by quarrels between supporters of Mr. Chirac and Mr. Sarkozy. The President is keeping the suspense alive about his own intentions for a third term, thus preventing Mr. Sarkozy from openly declaring his candidacy.

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