FRANCE: Defiant French regional leader Ségolène Royal, snared in a row over teachers, urged Socialists to make her the party's presidential candidate in a vote this week, saying she alone could defeat the right next spring.
Brushing off a row over her criticism of the nation's teachers, Ms Royal said she embodied the change France hungered for after 12 years of rule by conservative president Jacques Chirac.
Asked by the Journal du Dimanche (JDD) why the party's 200,000 members should vote for her in Thursday's internal ballot, she said: "Because I can win. I am the only one able to beat the right. I embody the profound change that people are demanding."
Ms Royal, who runs the western Poitou-Charentes region, said she was the anti-establishment candidate who could shake things up: "People have such a need to believe in change, to believe in the power of politics."
A JDD poll yesterday showed she remained the overwhelming favourite to win on the first round on Thursday, with 58 per cent of Socialist sympathisers backing her compared to 32 per cent for her nearest rival Dominique Strauss-Kahn. However, the poll was of Socialist sympathisers not party members, and it remained unclear what impact Ms Royal's comments on teachers - who account for 15 to 20 per cent of party members - would have on the ballot.
Video footage, apparently shot during a January meeting in the town of Angers, appeared on websites late last week showing Ms Royal saying teachers should spend more time in schools and less time giving private lessons.
In the clip, Ms Royal said she didn't want her views shouted from the roof tops because they would anger unions. The clip sparked charges of foul play by Ms Royal's supporters and risked deepening divisions stoked by weeks of campaigning.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, a former finance minister who has gained ground thanks to six candidate debates in which he performed well, continued to snipe at Ms Royal in the Le Parisien newspaper. "We will only reform education with the teachers, not against them," said Mr Strauss-Kahn, who says he can force her into a run-off ballot on November 23rd. But opinion polls suggest only Ms Royal has a chance of defeating the right's most likely candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy.