Date:23/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/23/stories/2008112354991100.htm

International

Aubry to head French Socialist Party

Vaiju Naravane

Martine Aubry

Paris: Martine Aubry, the Mayor of Lille, won the leadership of the French Socialist Party, beating her rival Segolene Royal by a mere 42 votes. However, Ms. Royal has refused to accept defeat, alleging fraud and irregularity in the vote by and has called for a fresh election.

The glamorous Ms. Royal, who was the party’s choice for the French presidency two years ago and who lost to Nicolas Sarkozy, immediately called for a re-poll, alleging irregularity in the vote. According to statement released on Saturday by the Socialist Party, Ms. Aubry won 50.02 per cent to Ms. Royal’s 49.98 per cent. Only 1,34,784 of the party’s 2,33,000 members cast valid ballots. The outgoing party leadership will hold a meeting on Tuesday to certify the results.

Ms. Aubry, Ms. Royal and a third candidate, Benoît Hamon, the leader of one of the Socialists’ left-wing factions, participated in the first round of voting on Thursday.

Mr. Hamon finished third, and because none of the candidates obtained a majority, the run-off was held Friday. But after a long acrimonious night, in which Ms. Royal first refused to concede, then insisted on a recount, the party looks as splintered as ever.

Ms. Royal’s lawyer, Jean-Pierre Mignard, called the result “questionable,” while another high-profile supporter, Manuel Valls, said another ballot should be organised next week.

This is the bitterest contest ever for the leadership of France’s main opposition party.

The Royal camp, thinking she had won, held a celebration towards midnight as votes were still being counted. But a last-minute spurt of support for Ms. Aubry titled the balance in her favour.

The party’s outgoing general secretary, Francois Hollande, Ms. Royal’s former partner and the father of their four children, said the party’s national commission would meet on Tuesday to look into the regularity of the vote and to designate the party’s new leader. The commission, effectively the party’s “Parliament,” will decide after examining the report of a special commission appointed on Saturday that will look into alleged electoral irregularities.

Ms. Royal’s supporter, Manuel Valls, has threatened to take the matter to court. Ms. Royal declared she would not “allow the victory to be stolen in this manner.”

Ms. Royal and her supporters suspect the election could have been rigged in the northern region of France which is Ms. Aubry’s electoral base. Ms. Royal’s supporters countersigned the electoral results in these areas, Ms. Aubry’s camp claims.

Ms. Aubry stands for left-wing values and has called for a rejection of any alliance with the centrists.

“We must beat the neo-liberal and anti-worker tendencies that have become the hall mark of this government,” she declared. Ms. Royal claims the next presidential election cannot be won without the support of the centrists and pushing the party into a leftist corner, she says, would be self-defeating.