Former Socialist contender for the French presidency Segolene Royal announced in a newspaper interview on Monday that she would make a new run in 2012.
Royal told regional dailies La Nouvelle Republique and Centre Presse she had decied to run in Socialist primaries due in the second-half of 2011 ahead of the spring 2012 election.
"I know from experience that several months are needed to prepare," Royal told the two newspapers. "Who can’t see that the right is already campaigning."
President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is now grappling with dismal approval ratings, beat Royal in 2007, dashing her hopes to become France’s first female president and bring the Socialists to power after conservative Jaques Chirac’s 12-year reign.
Royal beat out Socialist heavyweights to become their candidate in that election after casting herself as a leader with grassroots popularity facing down party apparatchiks. Since her defeat in the election, she has been upstaged by Socialist Party head Martine Aubry and International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, both seen as possible contenders in 2012.
