Segolene Royal (1953- ), a leader of the Socialist Party in France, is running for president on the left against Nicolas Sarkozy on the right. If she wins she would become the first female president of France.
In the first round on April 22nd for every 100 votes Sarkozy got 31, Royal 26, Bayrou 18 and Le Pen 11, with the remaining 14 going to yet others. Since no one got more than half the vote, the choice comes down to the top two, Sarkozy and Royal, on May 6th in a run-off election.
Sarkozy is favoured to win: Bayrou and Le Pen are both on the right, so most of their votes should go to him. But Bayrou could throw his support to Royal. Also, many hate Sarkozy and may wind up voting for Royal simply because she is not Sarkozy.
Sarkozy is a political heavyweight in France. He has been minister of finance and the interior. When the towns near Paris were on fire from Muslim violence in 2005, he restored order and called the Muslim youths who started it “scum”.
Royal on the other hand has never held nationwide office, though she was once an associate of President Mitterand. In addition many do not take her seriously because she is a woman. When she went to Chile the newspapers talked about what? Her shoes.
Yet Royal was able to win out over the heavyweights in her own party: Fabius and Strauss-Kahn, whom she called “elephants”. She comes across well on television, an important thing these days for president, and many see her as someone new who can shake things up.
For the first round both Royal and Sarkozy played to their base. Sarkozy promised tax cuts while Royal promised increased government benefits. Sarkozy spoke about law and order and keeping out foreigners while Royal expressed sorrow for the poor, positioning herself as their hero. Straight out of the left and right political playbooks.
For the last two weeks they will probably soften this sort of talk while they try to win over those in the middle. On May 2nd they will go head to head on television for the first time.
Royal is the daughter of a French army officer stationed in Africa. As he put it, “I have five children and three girls.” One of his dear children took part in blowing up the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, in New Zealand in 1985.
This right-wing family background gives Royal a hard side. While she may be soft when it comes to giving out government money, she is less forgiving on law and order. She once praised how quickly the law works in communist China.
She has four children by Francois Hollande, also a Socialist. They are not married but are civil partners under French law.
Royal is for the 35-hour work week and against Turkey joining the European Union. She calls the American war in Iraq a disaster.
– Abagond, 2007.
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