Zapatero praises France's Royal in campaign rally
TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - France's Segolene Royal took the stage with Spain's Prime Minister in a last major rally ahead of Sunday's presidential poll, urging the French to vote for change.
To the sound of thumping rock music and the applause of some 15,000 supporters, Royal and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero marched side by side into an exhibition hall in southern Toulouse on Thursday.
"Segolene knows how to serve Europe. Segolene is change. Segolene is the future," Zapatero told a cheering crowd. "Someone like her can be president."
French Socialists hope Zapatero's praise will give a final push to Royal ahead of Sunday's first election round.
Royal was nicknamed "Zapatera" in 2004 when she won a regional election on the home turf of the conservative French prime minister at the time, just weeks after Zapatero's victory in the Spanish election.
Royal's triumph in western Poitou-Charentes marked the start of her transformation from a largely unknown politician into the first woman with a serious chance to become French president.
"I like Zapatera, the symbol of victory," Royal has said of her nickname in her recent book "Maintenant" (Now).
Twelve candidates are standing in Sunday's poll, but only the two frontrunners move into a run-off vote on May 6. Recent surveys show Royal behind rightist Nicolas Sarkozy but ahead of centrist Francois Bayrou, who has edged closer in past weeks. Continued...
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