France's Royal faces uphill fight for presidency

PARIS (Reuters) - Segolene Royal's progress to the second round of France's presidential election was greeted with relief by Socialist faithful, but celebrations were tempered by a sober realization of the huge task she now faces.

Flag-waving supporters hailed Royal's vote tally on Sunday as a success that buried the ghost of the party's humiliating defeat in 2002, when far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen forced the Socialist candidate out of the second round run-off.

Royal won 25.87 percent of the vote against 31.18 percent for the frontrunner, conservative leader Nicolas Sarkozy. Opinion polls on the eve of the election had suggested Royal was closing the gap on the former interior minister.

So Sunday's result poses both real and psychological hurdles for Royal and her party to leap over.

"I am naturally going to campaign for Segolene just as I did in the first round, but I'm a bit worried," said former Socialist Prime Minister Michel Rocard. "Segolene Royal can of course still win, but the figures are the figures," he said.

One of Royal's main problems was the low vote tallies chalked up by the other six leftist candidates, who polled less than 11 percent, providing her with a very small reservoir of extra votes to draw on at the May 6 run-off.

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Her main target will be the voters who gave centrist leader Francois Bayrou his best-ever score of 18.57 percent. While Bayrou's party has traditionally been allied to Sarkozy's UMP, analysts say many of his backers on Sunday were left-leaning.

"I think it's a good result for Segolene Royal, but it does not put the left into the most favorable position for the second round," said political analyst Henri Rey.

Results showed Royal only came first in a handful of mainly rural regions. Even on her home turf in western Poitou-Charentes, where she has led the regional council since 2004, Royal just beat Sarkozy by about 1 percentage point.

Socialist faithful leaped with joy when TV screens flashed up her face on Sunday to show she was through to the next round, but the smiles changed when everyone saw the vote tallies.

"We should have done better. It's not enough," said Socialist voter Anissa Mathlouthi.

Royal, hardly known to most French three years ago, was hailed as the Socialists' savior when she won their primary election in 2006 to become their official candidate.

But her presidential campaign has struggled to take off, with foreign policy gaffes, chaotic planning and media blunders raising questions about her competence.

Royal shrugged off the criticism and if she goes on to win, she will have done so mostly thanks to her own determination and not because of any help she received from clearly skeptical Socialist veterans, known collectively as "The Elephants".

"I am a free woman," Royal told her supporters on Sunday, saying she would appeal to voters beyond the left during the final two weeks of campaigning.

Although four opinion polls late on Sunday all suggested Sarkozy would eventually triumph, Royal told reporters she was still in with a chance.

"It's feasible," she said.