Word: socialistics
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That France's Socialist Party (PS) has long been divided to the point of dysfunctionality is not exactly a secret. Yet no one thought the flummoxed party was ready to prove itself the Florida of European democracy. Yet that's exactly what happened Saturday, when polling for PS leadership designated a winner with a mere 42-vote lead - immediately provoking accusations of cheating, and calls for a new election. (See video from TIME's visit to the convention for the French Socialist Party...
...obtain any Floridian-style recounts - much less win an entirely new vote. That means Aubry, a former Labor and Social Affairs minister and architect of France's now-defunct 35 hour work-week, becomes the first female leader in PS history. Her objective in that post: constructing a Socialist platform rooted in more traditionally leftist policies to win back voters who flocked to Green and Communist parties after years of the PS's centrist drift. She then hopes to build a coalition of all leftist parties to finally mount a challenge to nearly a decade of unbroken national dominance...
...reality, Aubry, 58, is less the dour, doctrinaire Socialist she's positioned herself to be in contrast to the relaxed pragmatism and image-driven reputation for modernity and change characteristic of Royal. Still, even if Aubry's main differences with Royal, 55, are largely about style rather than political orientation or objective, she's proven to be just as polarizing as her rival. That means the tight result will find Aubry trying to lead just as many PS members who love her as those who hate her with a passion...
...rivals' individual histories within the party have their share of drama. The daughter of former European Commission President Jacques Delors, Aubry, 58, was named to successive government posts after establishing herself as a major mover in the PS and among Socialist legislators. In 2000 she became the target of conservative ire when her law reducing France's workweek to 35 hours was adopted. (It was gutted by Sarkozy's government last July...
...adviser to the late President François Mitterrand and later held cabinet positions in government where she drew attention by working during her pregnancy - and unapologetically defending family and education positions normally associated with conservatives. Following her presidential defeat, Royal stunned many observers by publicly dumping Socialist Party leader François Hollande - her companion and the father of her four children - and announcing she'd seek his post during the current election. To some, that made Royal the symbol of the strong, modern woman in politics; to others, it cast her as the classic snake in the grass...