Jospin breaks down as he hints at return

PARIS - Former Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin made a tearful return to the front of the French political stage at the weekend, convincing many of his supporters that he will end his retirement and start a run for the presidency next month.

Although he did not formally declare his intention to enter the Socialist primary in November, Jospin made a scarcely veiled attack on the runaway opinion poll favourite, Segolene Royal.

In effect, he accused her of trying to hijack the presidential campaign of France's leading opposition party by appealing to the media and general public, rather than to party members.

Jospin, 69, broke down as he explained to young Socialists why he had retired from politics after a humiliating defeat in the first round of the presidential election in April 2002.

The former Prime Minister, who has a reputation as a stiff and unemotional man, said that his low, third-place score in the first round - 17 per cent, just below the far-right leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen - had been a "cruel, sudden and unexpected" blow.

Only the first two candidates in the first round are allowed to stand in the second.

"I was profoundly upset," he told a meeting of young Socialists at the party's annual conference, in La Rochelle.

He began to reject suggestions that he had abandoned the party, in the midst of a battle, leaving colleagues to fight on alone. Tears welled in his eyes and Jospin was unable to go on until someone handed him a glass of water. Many in the hall stood and applauded.

The moment was taken by many as a sign that Jospin's retirement was at an end.

He has been under pressure from many quarters of the party to enter next year's presidential race and clip the soaring wings of Royal, the former environment and education minister.

A large banner unfurled at Sunday's meeting compared Jospin to the footballer Zinedine Zidane, who head-butted an Italian opponent during the soccer World Cup final.

The banner said: "Lionel, you departed like Zizou with a rush of blood to the head. Come back, for France's sake."

Nominations for the Socialist candidate for the presidential election in April and May open officially next month. Party members will vote for their candidate on November 16.

Respecting this timetable, Jospin made no formal announcement at the weekend that he planned to run but he convinced many of his supporters that such a step was now inevitable.

The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, a long-time friend and supporter of Jospin, said after the meeting: "He did us good and he did himself good."

Perhaps more significantly, Jospin ended his appearance with a clear attack on the darling of the opinion polls.

Royal, 52, is accused by opponents of adopting a mish-mash of left and right positions to build up unassailable support in public opinion. They accuse her of side-stepping the usual methods of building up grassroots support within the party, in the hope that members will be railroaded into voting for her as the candidate most likely to defeat the right.

In a carefully formulated statement on Sunday, Jospin said that, if he did return, it would be because he had "a vision of the party, a fidelity to authentic left-wing politics and an understanding and respect for grass-roots activism".

Closing the conference, the party's first secretary, Francois Hollande, called for an end to the sniping and back-biting between the half-dozen possible Socialist nominees. He also warned candidates - and perhaps Royal above all - that they cannot hope to win next year without the full backing of the party.

Hollande has been Royal's common law husband for 25 years and is the father of her four children.

- INDEPENDENT