Royal's Gender the Main Draw for French Voters: Poll
By REUTERS
Published: November 18, 2006
PARIS (Reuters) - Segolene Royal's chief attraction for French voters is that she is a woman, according to a poll conducted after she was selected as the Socialist Party's presidential candidate.
Thirty seven percent of those surveyed cited Royal's gender as her most positive factor ahead of the 2007 election, according to the Ipsos poll released on Saturday.
The figure was even higher, at 41 percent, among sympathizers of the opposition Socialists. Royal won more than 60 percent of the vote in Thursday's Socialist primary.
Asked if Royal's nomination would make life more complicated for the right, particularly the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told Journal du Dimanche newspaper:
"More complicated perhaps for the men. One doesn't treat a female adversary in the same way that one treats a male one. Some men will have to change their style and so much the better.''...
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