To standing ovations and long, roaring applause, France's Socialists crowned Segolene Royal as their candidate for next year's presidential poll at a special party congress on Sunday.
In a speech interrupted by Socialists chanting "Segolene - President", Royal evoked her battle as a feminist and promised to make France a fairer place if she was elected as the country's first woman president in 2007. "We are writing today a beautiful chapter of French history," a radiant Royal said, speaking from a mini-catwalk leading into the rows of some 1,300 applauding Socialists.