It's a tie, as French Socialists seek new leader

A closely fought race between two women to become the new leader of France's Socialist Party has ended in a dead heat, a senior party official said early Saturday.

Former presidential candidate Segolene Royal and Martine Aubry, the architect of the country's 35-hour work week, were running neck-and-neck, said Daniel Vaillant, a former interior minister.

"Given that the results are extremely close, I am unable, at this time, to say who will emerge as the winner," said Vaillant, speaking on behalf of the left-wing party's leadership.

Voting continued in some of France's overseas territories and the handful of votes produced by these former colonial dependencies could tip the election one way or another.

Early returns suggested voting was split almost clean down the middle. The uncertain outcome will further complicate the task of the winner, who must remold the splintered party to challenge conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy in the next general elections in 2012.

The Socialists' national secretary Razzy Hamadi had said earlier Saturday that the polls appeared to narrowly favor Aubry.

A source close to Aubry claimed she had won 50.5 percent of the vote versus 49.5 percent for Royal, based on a tally of 94 percent of total votes. The source spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of the preliminary results.

Royal's camp, however, refused to concede the race.

"We won't let this victory be stolen from us," vowed her close ally Manuel Valls.

Vaillant called for both sides to hold off from any statements for the time being. "That is not how we are going to get out of a really tough spot," he said.

It was unclear when a final result could be expected, as votes may have to be recounted if the results are disputed by either side.

The winner will be the Socialist Party's first female leader, and will have to resolve disputes over whether the party should shift toward the center or reach to the vocal far left. The party hopes to reverse its losing streak in the 2012 national ballot, after conceding three presidential elections since Socialist President Francois Mitterrand's 1981-1995 tenure.

The Socialists face an uphill task, though, as Sarkozy has borrowed leftist arguments for dealing with the global financial crisis _ and subsequently has seen his ratings climb.

Royal, 55, says she wants to "renovate" the Socialists and has allied with centrists in a bid to appeal to voters in the middle. Though she fell out of favor after losing to Sarkozy in 2007, she has since regained the spotlight and won more support among the Socialist rank and file.

Aubry, 58, says the party should be "anchored on the left," and she has rallied Socialist heavyweights around her. She is best known for having authored the 1998 law establishing a 35-hour work week _ a law Sarkozy has sought to dismantle.

In a first-round vote on Thursday, Royal received 42.4 percent and Aubrey 34.8 percent. Some 137,000 party members _ or nearly 60 percent _ took part in that ballot. A third candidate, leftist Benoit Hamon, endorsed Aubry after being eliminated with just 22.8 percent of the first-round vote.

Though the Socialists were poised to pick their first female leader, gender was not a big focus in the campaign. That was a notable shift from the run-up to the 2007 presidential elections, when Royal faced sexist comments from fellow Socialists in beating two men for the party's candidacy. France has never had a woman president.

The recent Socialist campaign has been dominated by personality clashes _ particularly between charismatic Royal and outgoing party chief Francois Hollande, who is also the father of Royal's four children.

Hollande campaigned against his former partner, but said Friday it was "important that the Socialists rally behind the one who is elected."