(Angus Reid Global Scan) - Many French adults believe Ségolène Royal should become the presidential nominee for France's Socialist Party (PS), according to a poll by CSA published in Le Parisien. 42 per cent of respondents, and 48 per cent of PS supporters, would prefer to have the regional leader and former environment minister as a candidate.

Former presidential candidate and prime minister Lionel Jospin is second with 24 per cent, followed by former culture and education minister Jack Lang with 20 per cent, former finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn with 17 per cent, current PS leader François Hollande with 12 per cent, and former prime minister Laurent Fabius with nine per cent.

Royal's political career began during the tenure of French president François Mitterrand in 1981. Mitterrand named her environment minister in 1992. She currently heads the regional government of Poitou-Charentes.

In September, 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 next presidential election. Lang said the election "should not be a beauty contest."

It is currently unclear if Jospin will seek the PS nomination once again. Jospin served as education minister under 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

Who would you prefer as the presidential candidate for the Socialist Party (PS) in the 2007 election?

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