Two women face off to lead shaky French Socialists
PARIS (Reuters) - France's Socialist party will elect a woman as its leader later on Friday in a vote that pits Segolene Royal, the former presidential candidate, against Martine Aubry, the architect of the 35-hour workweek.
The second round ballot will bring the curtain down on months of often bitter campaigning that has raised the spectre of a schism within France's main opposition party.
The leftist feuding has strengthened the position of President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has found it easier to implement his reform programme in the face of weakened opponents.
Royal, adored and loathed in almost equal measure by Socialist supporters, won the first round leadership vote on Thursday, with a score of 42.5 percent, against 34.7 percent for Aubry and 22.8 percent for a third candidate, Benoit Hamon.
As nobody secured an absolute majority in the ballot of Socialist party members, the top two candidates go forward to run off vote. Results are expected after 2300 GMT.
Although she topped Thursday's poll, Royal will face an uphill task to maintain her lead, with critics accusing of her planning to shunt the party to the political centre.
A broad array of disparate party veterans have rushed to the side of Aubry, daughter of former European Commission President Jacques Delors, and she also received the wholehearted backing of the youthful Hamon late Thursday.
"For our party to remain firmly anchored to the left, I ask those who supported me to vote massively for Aubry," Hamon said. Continued...
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