Paris - The run-off vote to chose a new leader for France's
Socialist Party was too close to call early Saturday as the losing
Socialist candidate in the 2007 French presidential election,
Segolene Royal, sought another shot at the country's top job.
If she beats her opponent, Lille Mayor and former labour minister
Martine Aubry, she would take a big step toward securing her party's
nomination to again take on President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012
presidential election.
But Aubry's supporters said they believed she had won the vote
with 50.5 per cent of the ballots.
'We won't let victory be stolen from us,' the Royal camp said.
The party did not indicate when it might be able to announce
Francois Hollande's successor.
Overseas votes in Friday's internal party balloting could
eventually decide the outcome, a Hollande spokesman said.
It became known early Friday that the Socialist Party would be led
by a woman for the first time in its history after the
three-candidate race was reduced to two when European Parliament
deputy Benoit Hamon failed to make the runoff.
Royal, 55, came out on top in the first round with 43.1 per cent
of the vote to 35.4 per cent for Aubry, 58.
Hamon, who received 22.8 per cent, urged his supporters to vote
for Aubry, making her the favourite going into the run-off.
In 2007, Royal became the first Frenchwoman to make it to the
second round of the presidential election, but she was soundly beaten
by Sarkozy.
The party, which has 230,000 members, is the strongest opposition
party in France.
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