Royal , Ségolène

   Socialist politician , former députée and former minister, currently Présidente of the Poitou-Charentes regional council. Ségolène Royal was the unsuccessful Socialist candidate in the 2007 French presidential election, that was won by Nicolas Sarkozy. She obtained 47% of the vote in the runoff. In 2007, she briefly managed to reunite a large part of the factious Socialist party behind her candidacy, but failed to keep up the momentum after defeat. In 2008, she was beaten by Martine Aubry in the leadership contest for the Socialist Party. Only a handful of votes separated the two contestants, and there was a recount. Many of Royal's supporters refused to accept the final verdict, and accusations of ballot rigging continued to be made well into 2009.