Royal to French Socialists - only I can win 2007 vote

PARIS, Nov 13 (Reuters) Defiant French regional leader Segolene Royal, snared in a row over teachers, urged Socialists to make her the party's presidential candidate in a vote this week, saying she alone could defeat the right next spring.

Brushing off a row over her criticism of the nation's teachers, Royal said she embodied the change France hungered for after 12 years of rule by conservative President Jacques Chirac.

Asked by the Journal du Dimanche (JDD) weekly why the party's 200,000 members should vote for her in Thursday's internal ballot, she said: ''Because I can win. I am the only one able to beat the right. I embody the profound change that people are demanding.'' Royal, who runs the western Poitou-Charentes region, said she was the anti-establishment candidate who could shake things up: ''People have such a need to believe in change, to believe in the power of politics.'' A JDD poll yesterday showed she remained the overwhelming favourite to win on the first round on Thursday, with 58 per cent of Socialist sympathisers backing her compared to 32 per cent for her nearest rival Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

However, the poll was of Socialist sympathisers, not party members and it remained unclear what impact Royal's comments on teachers -- who account for 15 per cent to 20 per cent of party members -- would have on the ballot.

Video footage, apparently shot during a January meeting in the western town of Angers, appeared on Web sites late last week showing Royal saying teachers should spend more time in schools and less time giving private lessons.

In the clip, Royal said she didn't want her views shouted from the roof tops because they would anger unions. The clip sparked charges of foul play by Royal supporters and risked deepening divisions stoked by weeks of campaigning.

Strauss-Kahn, a former finance minister who has gained ground thanks to six candidate debates in which he performed well, continued to snipe at Royal in the Le Parisien newspaper.

''We will only reform education with the teachers, not against them,'' Strauss-Kahn, who says he can force Royal into a run-off ballot on November 23, told Sunday's paper.

Nevertheless, opinion polls suggest only Royal has a chance of defeating the mainstream right's most likely candidate next spring -- Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

While his ruling UMP party is expected to back Sarkozy in January, the Socialists still face a tough battle if they are to unseat the right, notwithstanding the government's unpopularity.

Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin missed the run-off ballot in 2002, coming in third to far-right, anti-immigrant campaigner Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Many blamed his humiliation on the 20 per cent of the ballot taken by a rival leftist, Green and hard left candidates.

The Communists yesterday backed their leader Marie-George Buffet as a contender to lead an anti-globalisation coalition, which aims to build on the ''No'' campaign's victory in a 2005 referendum on the EU Constitution.

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