Royal, Ségolène

Royal, Ségolène

(Marie-Ségolène Royal) (märē`-sāgōlĕn` rwäyäl`), 1953–, French politician, b. Dakar, Senegal. A graduate of the École Nationale d'Administration (1980) who worked as a special assistant (1982–88) to President François MitterrandMitterrand, François Maurice
, 1916–96, French political leader, president of France, 1981–95. Initially a supporter of Pétain's Vichy government during World War II, he joined the Resistance in 1943.
..... Click the link for more information.
, she was first elected to the national assembly, as a Socialist, in 1988. She served as minister of the environment (1992–93), minister for school education (1997–2000), and minister for the family and childhood (2000–2002). Elected president of the Poitou-Charentes regional council in 2004, she served until 2014.

Especially personable and outgoing for a French politician, the media-savvy Royal was chosen in 2006 to be the Socialist party's candidate for the presidency, becoming the first woman to be a major party candidate for the post. Second after the first round of voting in Apr., 2007, she lost to Nicolas SarkozySarkozy, Nicolas
(Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarkozy de Nagy-Bocsa) , 1955–, French politician, president of France (2007–12), b. Paris. The son of a minor Hungarian aristocrat who immigrated to France and married the daughter of Greek immigrants, Sarkozy became a
..... Click the link for more information.
 in the May runoff, and subsequently decided not to stand as a candidate for the national assembly. Royal narrowly lost a 2008 bid to be Socialist party leader, but in 2011 she finished a distant fourth in her bid to win the Socialist presidential nomination. In 2014 she again became environment minister (from 2016 environment, energy, and oceans), this time under President François HollandeHollande, François Gérard Georges,
1954–, French lawyer and politician, president of France (2012–17), b. Rouen. He attended the elite National School of Administration (ENA) and Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po).
..... Click the link for more information.
, her former partner of three decades (they separated in 2007) and the father of her children.