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The irresistible rise of Ségolène Royal
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Race
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| Contributor | Ralphie |
| Last Edited | Ralphie Jun 24, 2006 04:03pm |
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| Category | Profile |
| Media | Newspaper - Economist (The) |
| News Date | Thursday, June 8, 2006 10:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | WHEN Britain's Labour Party chose Tony Blair as leader in 1994, left-wingers held their noses. Despite their distaste, he felt fresh, looked good and was popular enough to offer Labour its best chance of regaining power after 15 years in the wilderness. In France, where the Socialist Party has not had the presidency for 11 years, and an election is due next spring, a similar hunger has taken hold. The difference is that party grandees are putting up stiff resistance to the candidate who feels fresh, looks good and has conquered public opinion: Ségolène Royal.
When Ms Royal first hinted at her presidential ambitions nine months ago in Paris-Match, Socialist old-timers responded with scorn. “Who will look after the children?” sneered Laurent Fabius, a former prime minister, of this mother of four. Others pointed to her lack of heavyweight experience—she has served only in “soft” ministries such as education and the family. But the more she was dismissed, the more the public took to her. In a poll for Libération this week, 68% of Socialist voters said they wanted her as their presidential candidate, against 27% for the next choice, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
A second element in Ms Royal's strategy is to use her poll ratings to conquer the party, where she lacks a base. A new opinion poll by TNS-Sofres shows her to be France's most popular politician, fully ten points ahead of Mr Sarkozy, and the only candidate on the left who would beat him in a run-off. Thanks to an internet membership drive, the Socialist Party has expanded to over 200,000 members, a jump of almost 60% since March. An internal poll shows that many newcomers have neither belonged to a party before nor set foot in a Socialist meeting. Yet all those registered by June 1st will help to choose the presidential candidate in November. They could be just the sort who are drawn to the novelty and sense of renewal that Ms Royal seems to embody. |
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