Ségolène admits supporting Hollande in French Presidential election campaign is difficult

Ségolène Royal, defeated Socialist candidate in 2007 and former partner of François Hollande, the candidate this time around, admitted on French television on Wednesday that it was "very difficult" campaigning for Hollande.

Reuters/Benoit Tessier

She was asked whether it was especially difficult to campaign for the man with whom she had four children over three decades, before he left her for another woman.

She said it was “difficult, …even if it had been another candidate”, that it was “very difficult not to have been chosen.”

She had hoped to carry the flag for the Socialists again herself, and was unable to hide her tears when she came fourth out of six candidates in the Socialist primaries, scoring only seven per cent of the votes.

“When you have run your own campaign, when you have reached the second round, you want to lead another one and to turn the effort into something real”, she told French media.

“So it’s true that it is very difficult, but at the same time, I do it.”

“You have to be capable, and I have this strength, when the moment comes, to put aside your ambition or your personal dream, and put yourself at the service of the person who could make it happen in the name of us all.”

The relationship between the two now is intriguing. While campaigning against Hollande to try to win the primaries, she famously asked: “Can any one name one single thing François Hollande has done in his thirty year political career?”

The quotation has since been gleefully repeated by Nicolas Sarkozy, keen to persuade voters that frontrunner Hollande is incapable of taking tough decisions or actions.

Earlier this month Royal shared a stage with Hollande for a few minutes at one of his meetings, but they were together for only a few minutes, and a cordial peck on the cheek.

Son Thomas, who was central to Royal’s campaign in 2007, has played a less active role in his father’s campaign, and was told to stop talking to the press after telling journalists that the Hollande campaign had not generated the same fervour as his mother’s in 2007.