High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Marie-Ségolène Royal (born 22 September 1953 in Dakar, Senegal, French West Africa), known as Ségolène Royal (About this sound se l n wajal (help·info)), is a French politician. She is the president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council, a former member of the National Assembly, a former government minister, and a prominent member of the French Socialist Party. The first woman in France to be nominated by a major party, she was the Socialist candidate in the 2007 French presidential election but lost to Nicolas Sarkozy on 6 May 2007. On 28 November 2008, Royal declared implicitly her candidacy for President of France in 2012. However since her defeat in Reims Congress, she is increasingly marginalized.