Word: royall
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...expressions of horror and despair heard five years earlier, when the right-wing Jean-Marie Le Pen beat then Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin into the runoff against President Jacques Chirac. This time, the Socialist faithful were yelling out of joy and relief that it was their candidate, Segolene Royal, who would be facing off against conservative rival Nicolas Sarkozy in the May 6 runoff...
...Annick Lepetit, a Socialist Party official and member of parliament from Paris, agrees that Royal's presence in the second round corrects the anomaly of five years ago, when the presidential runoff amounted to a choice between the center-right and the far right. "This time, voters will have the choice between two different programs and visions for France - one from the right, the other from the left," Lepetit says. "For that reason, whoever wins will have a legitimacy to rule that's been absent the last five years...
...Relief rather than triumph was the prevailing mood outside Socialist headquarters. Their road to the Elysee Palace remains an uphill climb. Although Royal's first round vote tally of 25.8% is better than Francois Mitterrand's performance in his victorious 1981 presidential run, Sarkozy's 31.1% is even more formidable. While the Socialist candidate can count on the backing of most far-left candidates in the runoff, their first-round share added with the Socialists' is only 36.2%. And if much of Jean Marie Le Pen's 10.4% transfer their support to the tough-on-immigration Sarkozy, the outcome...
...problem with that partisan analysis is that Royal rejected calls to merge campaigns with Bayrou. And now, even after Sunday's results, Bayrou is demarcating his territory. In a speech after the first results came in, rather than conceding defeat Bayrou declared victory for "a large and independent center [party], capable of speaking and acting above outdated cleavages". Promising "from this evening on, French politics will change and will never again be the same," Bayrou warned that any presidential finalist wanting his endorsement will have to acknowledge "a new kind of politics is being born and the hope...
...speeches Sunday night, Sarkozy and Royal both opened their ranks to backers of vanquished candidates, suggesting the two weeks up to the May 6 final will doubtless be busy with closed-door bargaining with Bayrou. But even Bayrou voters seem torn on whom to support. "In terms of the method and manner she'd govern France, Sego is closest to Bayrou," comments Pascal Benazet, a 34-year-old financial marketing researcher at Bayrou's campaign headquarters after the first round results came in. "But in terms of economic policy, Sarkozy is closer to Bayrou." And like everyone else looking...