Paris - A French Socialist Party commission charged with investigating claims of election irregularities has determined that former presidential candidate Segolene Royal lost the race to become party leader, the online edition of the daily Le Monde reported on Tuesday. Citing unnamed sources close to both Royal and her rival, Lille Mayor Martine Aubry, the newspaper reported that the latest recount of Friday's election shows that Aubry won by 102 votes out of nearly 135,000 cast.
Originally Aubry had been credited with a winning margin of only 42 votes, or 0.04 per cent. The closeness of the contest and reports of irregularities in several voting districts, including in Lille, moved Royal supporters to charge that the election had been stolen.
It is likely now that the national council of the Socialist Party, which meets later Tuesday, will certify the election results and officially name the 58-year-old Aubry as the party's first-ever female leader.
Earlier on Tuesday, Le Monde reported that representatives of Royal on the vote-count commission had demanded that the Socialist Party annul Friday's election because of the numerous irregularities.
"The way the election was carried out provoked a deep indignation considering the number of irregularities certified and the small number of votes separating the two candidiates," they wrote in a letter to the commission.
Some aides to Royal have said they would go to court if Aubry's election is made official.
If Royal is declared the loser, it will probably put an end to her ambition to face off against President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 presidential election. Sarkozy beat her by a substantial margin in the 2007 vote.
However, the bitter dispute is provoking such bad blood within the party, and causing it to lose so much credibility, that Sarkozy may have little trouble defeating any Socialist candidate, if he chooses to stand again in 2012.
