Segolene Royal

Ségolène Royal is a French politician who ran for president in the [[French Elections|2007 presidential elections as a candidate for the French Socialist Party. Although she made it to the second round of national elections, Royal lost to Nicolas Sarkozy in a run-off election.

Royal struggled early on in her campaign for unified support from the Socialist Party. She accused party leaders of sexism, and formed her own team to promote her campaign. She eventually won the party's nomination in 2007.

Tensions within Royal's campaign came to a head when Éric Besson, one of Royal's top campaign advisors, resigned soon after she won the nomination. Besson went so far as to publish a book in March, 2007 that was extremely critical of both Royal's political views and her overall campaign.

In the first round of voting, Royal received 25.87%, versus Sarkozy's 31.18% of the popular vote. The two then faced off in a run-off election where Royal received 46.94% of the vote. Sarkozy won with 53.06%.