Aubry wins Socialist vote
2008-11-22 08:27
Paris - Martine Aubry, the architect of France's 35-hour work week, has won the leadership battle for the French Socialist party by just 42 votes, the group said in a statement early on Saturday.
Supporters of her arch rival Segolene Royal immediately contested the result and demanded a re-run, raising the spectre of prolonged feuding and confusion within France's main opposition party.
The Socialists said Aubry won 50.04% of the vote among party members in Friday's ballot against 49.98% for Royal. Only 134 784 of the party's 233 000 members voted.
(Reporting by Laure Bretton; Writing by Crispian Balmer;
editing by Andrew Dobbie)
- Reuters