France's Socialists under strain as Bayrou advances

PARIS, Mar 12 (Reuters) The head of France's Socialist party said today its candidate Segolene Royal could lose out to centrist Francois Bayrou in the first round of presidential elections next month unless the whole party rallied around her.

Royal's campaign has failed to ignite and she has consistently trailed the right's candidate Nicolas Sarkozy in opinion polls since the start of the year.

But Bayrou's dramatic advance has triggered fear of a repeat of the nightmare of April 21, 2002 when Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin was eliminated in the first round by far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.

''When one has been through April 21, when the left was eliminated, we can't rule out any hypothesis,'' party leader Francois Hollande said in an interview with Liberation daily.

The comments reflect growing alarm in the Socialist camp as Bayrou's surge in the polls has increasingly given him the status of the man best placed to beat Sarkozy, the hardline interior minister who is both hated and feared on the left.

One poll at the weekend showed Royal and Bayrou in equal second place behind Sarkozy before the first round on April 22 and several polls have suggested Bayrou would rally opposition and beat Sarkozy if he made it through to the run-off on May 6.

GRUDGING SUPPORT Hollande said the scars of last year's bitterly fought primary campaign in which Royal faced a number of party heavyweights had to be overcome if she is to make it through.

''Our primary was a fine democratic exercise, but a vote always leaves a mark,'' said Hollande, who is Royal's partner.

''All generations and all levels of experience now have to get involved in the campaign more and more every day.'' Royal, the first woman with a serious chance of becoming French president, was overwhelmingly elected as the Socialist candidate last year but has had apparently grudging support from senior figures referred to as the party ''elephants''.

''There was a doubt on competence because people said 'if they haven't formed ranks around her, that means they have doubts themselves','' she told M6 television at the weekend, referring to internal opposition to her candidacy.

Former prime ministers Lionel Jospin and Laurent Fabius and former Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who all opposed Royal in the party primaries, have formally backed her but they have played a negligible role in the campaign so far.

Strauss-Kahn, who has been acting as an economic adviser to Royal, told LCI television voters faced a clear choice between Royal and Sarkozy but he said Bayrou's rapid rise posed a real danger to Royal.

''Everything is possible in today's environment,'' he said.

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