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Even before all the results had been counted, Ségolène Royal, the defeated Socialist presidential candidate, made it known that she had separated from François Hollande, her companion and the party leader, and was mounting an attempt to replace him.

Ms Royal, 53, says in a book to be published on Wednesday that she is no longer the partner of the one-time fellow student with whom she spent more than two decades and bore four children. “I asked François Hollande to leave the family home and live out by himself his romantic life, which has already been reported in books and newspapers. I wish him happiness,” she said.

Ms Royal, who won 47 per cent of the presidential vote, is also trying to wrest control of the party from Mr Hollande, who has run it for the past decade. She remains popular with left-wing voters, although many senior party figures fault her for what they consider to be an incompetent campaign that squandered the party’s best chance of winning presidential power since 1988.

Her release of Les Coulisses de la Défaite (Behind the Scenes of the Defeat), by Christine Courcol and Thierry Masure, on election night embarrassed Socialists, who have been unhappy over the way that they have been held hostage to the conjugal troubles of their double leadership.

The strain between Ms Royal and Mr Hollande coloured her campaign. Mr Hollande’s relationship with a woman journalist from Paris Match has long been public knowledge and the couple often had to deny rumours that they were separating. Mr Hollande is due to step down in autumn 2008, but several Socialist officials have suggested that the leadership issue should be resolved this year.

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