PARIS -- François Hollande, a centrist, took the lead in the first round of the Socialist primary this weekend, beginning the battle to see who will oppose President Nicolas Sarkozy in the general election next year. But by Monday, even Mr. Hollande, the front-runner, was forced to acknowledge an unexpectedly strong showing by an...
France's Socialist Party found itself deeply divided on Sunday and, even worse, harshly mocked. A summer of embarrassing rivalries has culminated in an excruciatingly narrow and disputed vote for a new party leader that is likely to please chiefly the country's center-right president, Nicolas Sarkozy. The Socialists are known for their intellectual...
The woman who masterminded France's 35-hour workweek a decade ago, Martine Aubry, was declared the winner on Saturday of a runoff election for the leadership of the Socialist Party by a razor-thin margin over its standard-bearer in the last presidential election. Ms. Aubry, the mayor of the northern city of Lille and a former labor minister,...
Marie-Ségolène Royal (født den 22. september 1953 i Dakar i Senegal) er en fransk politiker. Hun er formand for regionsrådet i Poitou-Charentes, medlem af Nationalforsamlingen, og et fremtrædende medlem af socialistpartiet (PS). Den 16. november 2006 blev hun af socialistpartiets medlemmer valgt som partiets kandidat ved det franske præsidentvalg i april og maj 2007.
Ved præsidentvalgets første runde, 22. april 2007, fik Royal næstflest stemmer, ca. 25%. Ved valgets anden runde tabte Royal med 46,7% af stemmerne mod Sarkozys 53,3%.
Ségolène Royal er uddannet fra den prestigefyldte forvaltningsskole École Nationale d'Administration i 1980. Royal er samboende med socialistpartiets leder, François Hollande, som hun traf på ENA. Sammen har de fire børn.