(Angus Reid Global Scan) - There is no clear frontrunner in the race to choose the presidential candidate for France's Socialist Party (PS), according to a poll by Ifop published in Le Journal du Dimanche. 24 per cent of respondents believe former culture and education minister Jack Lang would be the best contender.

Regional leader and former environment minister Ségolène Royal is a close second with 23 per cent, followed by former finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn with 22 per cent, and former prime minister Laurent Fabius with 17 per cent. In a sample of PS supporters, Lang is first with 24 per cent, followed by Royal and Strauss-Kahn each with 22 per cent.

Earlier this month, Royal said she would be capable of defeating interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy of the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) "or another person" in the presidential election. Lang said the election "should not be a beauty contest."

It is currently unclear if former presidential candidate and prime minister Lionel Jospin will seek the PS nomination once again. Jospin served as education minister under president François Mitterrand from 1988 to 1992, and as prime minister from June 1997 to May 2002. In the 1995 presidential election, Jospin lost a run-off to UMP member Jacques Chirac.

In the 2002 ballot, Jospin finished third with 16.2 per cent and was left out of the second round between Chirac and Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front (FN). The next election is tentatively scheduled for April 2007.

Polling Data

Which of the following personalities do you think would be the best candidate for the Socialist Party (PS) in the 2007 presidential election?

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