The fight for leadership of the French Socialist party came down last night to a run-off between two female foes: Ségolène Royal, the glamorous former presidential candidate, and Martine Aubry, the stern-mannered Mayor of Lille.

The women, whose mutual loathing is legendary, emerged as the front-runners yesterday after a three-way vote by the national membership of the party. Ms Royal won 42.5 per cent, Ms Aubry 34.7 per cent and Benoît Hamon, a left-wing MEP, took 22.8 per cent.

After his elimination Mr Hamon, 41, called for his supporters to rally behind Ms Aubry in the run-off. “For our party to remain firmly anchored to the Left, I ask those who supported me to vote massively for Aubry,” he said.

If Mr Hamon’s camp follow his advice, the arithmetic suggests that the leadership of the Opposition will go to Ms Aubry, 58, a former Labour Minister, whose main achievement was the creation of France’s 35-hour working week a decade ago. Ms Aubry, who is not a popular figure, has benefited from the fierce hostility to Ms Royal, 55, among the party’s old guard and senior ranks.

Since a disastrous party conference in Rheims last weekend, loathing for Ms Royal and her quirky, evangelical style, has united former foes in the “stop Ségo” movement. Among them is Bertrand Delanoë, 58, the Mayor of Paris, who until last week was tipped to win the leadership at the party conference. He withdrew his candidacy and backed Ms Aubry, talking of the doom that awaited the old centre-left party if it fell into the hands of the “lightweight” president of the Poitou-Charentes regional council.

Ms Royal, who depicts herself as a victim of party plotting, remained confident that she would win a tight race because she inspired strong grassroots support among the 233,000 members.

She was banking on a higher turn-out than the 60 per cent who voted at party offices around the country last night. “They are teaming up to block the renewal of the party . . . Let the grassroots members decide,” she said.

Ms Royal promised an upheaval in the antique ways of the party that was refounded by the late François Mitterrand in 1971 and was led until this month by François Hollande, her estranged former partner.

She wants the old guard to stand down in favour of a younger leadership, with more women and nonwhites. Several senior figures threatened to leave the party if Ms Royal won.

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