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French Socialists review disputed leadership vote
France's stricken Socialist Party launched a review on Monday of its disputed leadership vote in an attempt to stop the chaos that has broken out since Martine Aubry won a razor-thin victory over Segolene Royal.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:35 November 24, 2008
Paris: France's stricken Socialist Party launched a review on Monday of its disputed leadership vote in an attempt to stop the chaos that has broken out since Martine Aubry won a razor-thin victory over Segolene Royal.
Party officials said on Saturday that Aubry, the woman behind the 35-hour working week law, beat Royal, the Socialist candidate in last year's presidential election, by 0.04 percentage points, or 42 votes, in Friday's leadership election.
Royal disputes the result and wants a re-run, and the feuding factions are on the brink of lawsuits with each side accusing the other of cheating and slander.
Infighting has paralysed the Socialists as an opposition force to right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy since Royal lost badly to him in May 2007, and the acrimony has reached a new pitch since the inconclusive leadership vote.
The party now looks at risk of falling apart altogether, or becoming completely ungovernable and lurching from crisis to crisis, unable to mount a credible challenge to Sarkozy in the next presidential election in 2012.
A commission of party officials, including three representatives each from the Royal and Aubry camps, started yesterday a detailed review of the results of Friday's vote.
It will pass its findings to the party's ruling body, which must say today whether the result is valid or not.
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