Felicitations Martine

On Friday, November 21st, the French socialist party voted for their new first secretary. Martin Aubrey led Segolene Royale by 42 votes. Sego contested the results and there was a second round of votes. Aubrey won. For a second time on Nov 25th, the party's vote to become its leader. Martine Aubrey elue la Premiere Secretaire du Partie Socialiste.
The two women do not get along, not on a personal nor an ideological level, and there have been worries in French left for a party split. (Does that ring a bell???) Segolene appeared on a video to tell her voters that she will come back stronger at the next elections and that she does not plan to quit the left.
Segolene with her ex-partner where the royal couple, the Douglases, of the French left. Things have not turned particularly swell for them since the announcement of their split and the rise of Nicolas.

French socialist voters are split, like their party. Some adore Segolene, some don't even want to see her face on a picture. The truth is that Segolene has a very strong personality - love and hate are the two sides of the same coin. Martine, on the other hand, has an extremely impressive resume, as she is the architect of France's revolutionary 35-hour week, a true solialist. She is also sort of socialist royalty, as she comes from a political family: her father is the architect of Europe 92, Jacques Delors. She is currently the mayor of Lille France's ugliest city, and she is apparently doing a very good job.

Congrats Martine, beating such a worthy opponent makes the win even higher.

France needs to become more competitive without losing its socialist character - mind you France's right is probably far more left than the Democrats. (How right is the Left and how left is the Right, is a different topic alltogether).

The fact that there are for the first time two women candidates to lead France's socialists is also another remarkable progress of our times.