French couple may face off for presidency
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-19 08:48

They are France's power couple: He is the Socialist Party boss, and she is the party's most popular politician. Now, Francois Hollande and Segolene Royal might end up competing against each other in the 2007 presidential race.

While Hollande is bespectacled and somewhat bland, Royal is the darling of the polls, with a disarming smile and crisp, chic suits. In a country where women make up only 12 percent of parliament, she seems the more unlikely candidate for president.

And that's exactly why people like her.

French socialist party secretary general Francois Hollande, right, and his companion Segolene Royal, leave the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital after visiting Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, in Paris in this Oct.6, 2002 file photo. [AP/file]

Royal, 52, campaigns for some of the traditional family values that are usually the terrain of the right. She has not unveiled a platform and is untested on economic and international affairs. She has often seemed on the Socialist fringe.

Yet France is looking for fresh ideas, especially after three weeks of rioting swept the country last fall, exposing deep problems of unemployment, disenfranchisement and racism faced by youths in poor neighborhoods. Many think Royal might be the left's best weapon against Nicolas Sarkozy, the law-and-order interior minister who is a strong potential candidate for the right.

Her popularity "is a way for people to get a message out: 'We want new personalities ... modern personalities, like a woman in politics who has four children," said Bruno Jeanbart of the CSA polling agency.

A CSA poll in Le Parisien newspaper this month suggested that 42 percent of the French want Royal to stand for the Socialists. The next on the list, 68-year-old former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, was far behind, at 24 percent.

Hollande, 51, scored just 12 percent.

The couple says there is no domestic discord over the nomination — if both decide to run, they will let party members decide on the best candidate in November.

"I don't reproach her for being popular, that would be absurd," Hollande said recently.

In an interview in Paris-Match magazine in September, Royal said she will stand for election if asked by the party. That also means getting Hollande's approval: "It's only possible if Francois asks me and supports me," she said.

The two met at the prestigious Ecole Nationale d'Administration and graduated in 1980. They have four children together but never married. After the Socialists pushed through a 1999 law giving some legal rights to unmarried couples — including gays — Hollande and Royal signed on.

Royal's ascendance has provoked some sexist comments from other Socialists. Senator Jean-Luc Melenchon griped that the election was "not a beauty contest." Former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius asked snidely: "But who's going to watch the children?"

The jibes were surprising from a party that pushed through a 2000 law to encourage woman politicians. The legislation requires parties to submit an equal number of men and women in many elections, and conservative President Jacques Chirac said recently that it should go even further and be better enforced.

Other signs indicate France, if not all its politicians, might be ready for a Madame la Presidente.

"There are salary disparities (between men and women) in France, that's undeniable. There is violence against women, that's undeniable. But I don't think that today there is a problem for France to elect a woman," said Daniel Bernard, who wrote a biography of Royal, "Madame Royal."

He points out that women have led several male-dominated clubs in France, from the CFDT union to business lobby Medef to Chirac's former political party, the Rally for the Republic — since repackaged under a new name and leadership.

Royal, a former environment minister and family minister who is a lawmaker and the president of the Poitou-Charentes region in western France, says she is reacting to the buzz "with a sense of humor."

"Polls don't make an election," Royal said in an interview Monday on France-2 television. Asked about her lack of international and economic experience, she responded coolly: "Today, governance is about knowing how to surround yourself with the best people."

Royal is best known for crusades to protect children from pornography, violence on television and hazing in school. Her reactions are sometimes surprising: In response to France's rioting, she suggested reinstating mandatory military service.

She made headlines this month for skipping a Socialist homage to former President Francois Mitterrand on the 10th anniversary of his death.

Hollande dutifully attended. Royal went to Chile instead to support a candidate for the nation's presidency, Michelle Bachelet.

Her absence raised eyebrows — Royal was a Mitterrand protege — but it also marked her out as forward-looking: Bachelet was elected Chile's first female president last weekend.