Jan 23, 2007, 10:00 GMT
Paris - French Socialist Party presidential hopeful Segolene Royal demanded Tuesday that rumours about her longtime relationship with party chief Francois Hollande cease.
'It is important that the rumours stop, that we are left in peace,' she told Europe 1 radio. 'Every day we hear something new about our relationship. The French people are tired of this intrusion into our private lives.'
The 53-year-old Royal and the 52-year-old Hollande have been a couple for 26 years and have four children, though they have never married.
Since Royal has been nominated as the Socialist presidential candidate, many political observers have wondered how this would affect their relationship, since Hollande reportedly also had coveted the nomination.
In addition, their relationship has been the source of some discord in her electoral campaign.
When Hollande declared that if the Socialists come to power this year, they will roll back a tax decrease enacted by the conservative government on those earning more than 4,000 euros (5,200 dollars) per month, Royal replied, 'I'm not in favour of raising taxes.'
And she suspended her spokesman, Arnaud Montebourg, last week after he said jokingly on a television talk show, 'Segolene Royal has only one flaw - her partner.'
These missteps helped fuel discussion, both in the media and on the internet, about a romantic rift and even separate apartments for the two.
One right-wing blog, Jakouille la Fripouille, declared 'Segolene Royal and Francois Hollande have separated,' and went on to castigate 'the bogus Royal-Hollande couple' for 'treating the French people like imbeciles' by pretending they were still together.
On Tuesday, Royal denounced what she called 'internet manipulations by certain parliamentarians' of the UMP party of her rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
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