Civil Partner François Hollande (divorced)
Marie-Ségolène Royal (born 22 September 1953 in Dakar, Senegal, then a French colony), known as Ségolène Royal (help·info), (IPA: [segɔlɛn ʁwajal]) is a French politician. She is the president of the Poitou-Charentes region, a former member of the National Assembly and a prominent member of the Socialist Party. On 16 November 2006, Socialist Party members elected her as their candidate for the 2007 French presidential election.
In the first round of voting in that election, on April 22, 2007, Royal received 25.87 percent of votes to qualify for the second round to face Nicolas Sarkozy who received 31.18 percent. Both debated on 2 May 2007. Sarkozy was elected on May 6, with 53.06 percent of the votes, and Royal lost the election with 46.94 percent., for her controversial insistence on law and order issues and for her support of devolution and participatory democracy.

Biography
She served as a judge (conseiller) of an administrative court, an assignment for low-ranking graduates after her graduation in 1980, before she was noticed by President François Mitterrand's special adviser Jacques Attali and recruited in his staff in 1982. She held the junior rank of chargée de mission from 1982 to 1988. When the Left won the 1997 legislative election, she stood for the presidency of the National Assembly; however, the party instead elected Laurent Fabius. In compensation, she was appointed to Lionel Jospin's government as Vice-Minister of Education, then as Vice-Minister of Family and Childhood from 2000 to 2002.
On 28 March 2004, she was elected (with more than 55%) president of the region Poitou-Charentes, notably defeating Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's protégée, Élisabeth Morin, in his home region. She kept her National Assembly seat until June 2007, when she chose not to run in the legislative election, saying she thought it was inappropriate to be a delegate in the Assembly and the president of a region simultaneously.

Constitution
Fifth Republic
Government of France
President

• Nicolas Sarkozy
  List
  Prime Minister
  
  
  
  • François Fillon
    List
    French Parliament
    
    
    
    • National Assembly
      Senate
      Congress
      Constitutional Council
      Court of Cassation
      Political parties
      
      
      
      • Gaullism
        Elections
        
        
        
        • Presidential: 1958, 1965, 1969, 1974, 1981, 1988, 1995, 2002, 2007
          National Assembly: 1973, 1978, 1981, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2007
          Human rights
          Subdivisions
          
          
          
          • Regions
            Departments
            EU Politics
            Foreign relations
            
            
            
            • Minister of Foreign Affairs
              Political scandals
              French Portal Political career
              
              3 April 1992 - 29 March 1993, Minister of the Environment
              4 June 1997 - 27 March 2000, Vice-Minister for Education (ministre déléguée à l'Enseignement scolaire auprès du ministre de l'Éducation nationale)
              27 March 2000 - 27 March 2001, Vice-Minister for Family and Childhood (ministre déléguée à la Famille et à l'Enfance auprès de la ministre de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité)
              28 March 2001 - 5 May 2002, Vice-Minister for Family and Childhood and Handicapped Persons (ministre déléguée à la Famille, à l'Enfance et aux Personnes handicapées auprès de la ministre de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité). Ministerial career
              
              1983-1986 - Member of the Trouville-sur-Mer (Calvados) municipal council
              13 June 1988 - 2 May 1992 - Deputy for Deux-Sèvres (resigned to become member of the Bérégovoy government)
              13 March 1989 - 18 June 1995 - Member of the Melle (Deux-Sèvres) municipal council
              23 March - 3 April 1992 - Member of the Poitou-Charentes regional council
              2 April 1992 - 23 March 1998 - Member of the Deux-Sèvres General Council
              2 April 1993 - 21 April 1997 - Deputy for Deux-Sèvres
              18 June 1995 - 18 March 2001 - Member of the Niort (Deux-Sèvres) municipal council
              1 June 1997 - 4 July 1997 - Deputy for Deux-Sèvres (resigned to become member of the Jospin government)
              June 2002 - 17 June 2007, Deputy for Deux-Sèvres (chose not to run for re-election in 2007)
              March 2004 - present, President of the Poitou-Charentes region Elected office
              
              
              Main article: French presidential election, 2007 Rumours over personal issues
              Royal has been widely criticized for being stronger on rhetoric than policies, and being part of a trend in French politics to focus on the personality and lifestyles of politicians rather than their ideas. She has also tended to campaign on family and other socially-oriented issues, rather than on economic or foreign policy issues. For instance, she has mounted campaigns against the exposure of children to violent television shows, including cartoons (see her 1989 book, listed below, Le Ras-le-bol des bébés zappeurs, roughly translated as "The Channel-Surfing Kids Are Fed Up"), and more generally has taken a stand on several issues regarding family values and the protection of children.
              
              Policies
              Royal stated as part of her 100-point platform that if elected, she would raise the lowest state pensions by five percent, increase the monthly minimum wage to €1,500 ($2,000), raise benefits of handicapped citizens, implement state-paid rental deposits for the poorest citizens, and guarantee a job or job training to every student within six months of graduation. She pledged to abolish a flexible work contract for small companies. She pledged free contraception for all young women and a €10,000 interest-free loan for all young people.
              
              Economics
              During her tenure as Minister for the Environment, 1992-1993, Royal campaigned actively and successfully for the Law on the treatment and recycling of refuse (La loi sur le traitement et le recyclage des déchets), the Law to preserve the countryside (La loi sur la reconquête des paysages), a Save our countrysides, savour their products campaign to provide proper labelling for the products of 100 local areas (opération «Sauvons nos paysages, savourons leurs produits»), and the Law against noise pollution (La loi de lutte contre le bruit). She provided compensation for people adversely affected by airport noise.
              
              Environment
              During her tenure as Minister-delegate for the Family, Children, and the Handicapped, 2000-2002,
              
              Education
              In 1989, Ségolène Royal authored a book called "The Channel-Surfing Kids Are Fed-Up"
              
              Family and social affairs
              When she accepted her nomination as the Socialist presidential candidate, Royal said, "There is a strong correlation between the status of a woman and the state of justice or injustice in a country." According to an article in Ms. magazine, French women currently earn 80 percent of a male counterpart's salary.
              
              Women's issues
              Royal has been a long-standing critic of violence on television. She has voiced opinions in the past linking youth crime to exposure to pornography and television violence.
              She also described the M6 programme "Loft Story", based on the internationally popular Big Brother format, as contrary to principles of human dignity and risking transforming viewers into voyeurs instead of providing quality programming.
              
              Television issues
              In 2000 Royal, as the then Minister of the Family and Children spoke out against anti-gay bullying in schools, saying,
              She later introduced an educational package in high schools and colleges called "The Happiness of Loving", designed particularly for teachers and nurses. It comprises a video, educational information and printed copies for students which address the different issues of homosexuality and homophobia. It includes information on the Civil Partnership scheme, the situation of homosexuals and the discrimination they face abroad. Royal commented further on the issue later that year: "It is necessary, in my opinion, to step up against homophobia, to recognise and respect each other, with our differences".
              
              Foreign policy
              Royal is the author unless otherwise noted.
              
              Le Printemps des grands-parents : la nouvelle alliance des âges (Paris : Cogite-R. Laffont, 1987) ISBN 2-221-05314-1, (Paris : France Loisirs, 1988) ISBN 2-7242-3948-2, (Paris : Presses pocket, 1989) ISBN 2-266-02730-1.
              Le Ras-le-bol des bébés zappeurs (Paris : R. Laffont, 1989) ISBN 2-221-05826-7, cover "Télé-massacre, l'overdose?", subjects): Télévision et enfants, Violence -- A la télévision.
              Pays, paysans, paysages (Paris : R. Laffont, 1993) ISBN 2-221-07046-1, subject(s): Environnement -- Protection -- France ; Politique de l'environnement -- France ; Développement rural -- France.
              France. Ministère de l'environnement (1991-1997) Ségolène Royal, une année d'actions pour la planète : avril 1992 - mars 1993 (Paris : Ministère de l'environnement, ca 1993), subject(s): Politique de l'environnement -- France.
              France. Assemblée nationale (1958-) Commission des affaires étrangères Rapport d'information sur les suites de la Conférence de Rio / présenté par M. Roland Nungesser et Mme Ségolène Royal (Paris : Assemblée nationale, 1994) ISBN 2-11-087788-X, subject(s): Développement durable ; Conférence des Nations unies sur l'environnement et le développement.
              La vérité d'une femme (Paris : Stock, 1996) ISBN 2-234-04648-3, subject(s): Pratiques politiques -- France -- 1970-.
              Laguerre, Christian École, informatique et nouveaux comportements préf. de Ségolène Royal (Paris ; Montréal (Québec) : Éd. l'Harmattan, 1999) ISBN 2-7384-7453-5, subject(s): Informatique -- Aspect social ; Éducation et informatique ; Ordinateurs et enfants.
              Sassier, Monique Construire la médiation familiale : arguments et propositions preface by Ségolène Royal (Paris : Dunod, 2001) ISBN 2-10-005993-9.
              Amar, Cécile and Hassoux, Didier Ségolène et François ([Paris] : Privé, impr. 2005) ISBN 2-35076-002-2, subject(s): Royal, Ségolène (1953-) -- Biographies ; Hollande, François (1954-) -- Biographies.
              Bernard, Daniel Madame Royal ([Paris] : Jacob-Duvernet, impr. 2005) ISBN 2-84724-091-8, subject(s): Royal, Ségolène (1953-) -- Biographies ; France -- Politique et gouvernement -- 1958-.
              Désir d'avenir ([Paris] : Flammarion, [forthcoming, March 2006]) ISBN 2080688057.
              Malouines-Me La Madone et le Culbuto - Ou l'Inlassable Ambition de Ségolène Royal et François Hollande ([Paris] : Fayard, [forthcoming, April 5 2006]), series: LITT.GENE, ISBN 2213623546.