Royal won't stand for Parliament

AdelaideNow... Royal won't stand for Parliament: "Ms Royal tried to shunt France's hidebound Socialist party towards the centre of the political spectrum during her election campaign in a desperate effort to overtake Sarkozy."

I can see we're at it again. No, she didn't win the election and the French people chose Mr. Sarkosy, but, she was just extraordinary in her capacity to bring herself and her party as far as she did. There was no shunting and no desperation. She is an intelligent, competent politician and it was just incredible for us to be able to watch such dynamism in politics. The election for the French president was a truly interesting and hard fought affair.We were even talking about it enthusiastically at work and around the place here. That is fantastic politics. To say that Mme. Royal was in anyway lacking is just not true. To get to that last round and then to watch the two of them engage in such strong and powerful debating made this election for the new president one of the gripping news stories of its time. This is so unusual and it cannot happen if anyone is weak. The walkover with the clear winner is not an election. The French people really had to listen carefully, they really had to do their research and then they really had to think hard because here were two very worthy candidates. I am sorry that Ms. Royal did not win because I 'd like to have seen how that would have worked out. Ms. Royal is a very powerful and articulate candidate and so, for M. Sarkosy to have won the election means he really had to come up with the goods. The win was not assured because both candidates brought the best out in each other and were demanding,rigorous opponents. I'd like to congratulate both of them for actually making politics interesting!!