LIBERATION, LE PARISIEN (France)
PARIS –All's fair in love and politics, especially in France.
Two days after First Lady Valérie Trierweiler'smorning tweet set French politics in a tizzy, President François Hollande's former longtime partner Ségolène Royal has fired back. Royal granted the French newspaper Libération her first interview after Trierweiler took to the twitterwaves Tuesday to flaunt her support for the candidate challenging Royal in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Royal, herself a former presidential candidate and mother to the current President's four children, explained her initial silence on the French twittergate: "I didn't want to react immediately because the blow was too violent. But it doesn't mean I wasn't affected or wounded, I'm not a robot," the French newspaper Le Parisien reports, quoting Libération.
Trierweiler's support of Olivier Farloni for the upcoming second round of the legislative elections in La Rochelle, was both a personal and political slap, Royal said. "As a politician, I ask for respect, the same way the support the President gave me should be respected, as I am the only candidate from the presidential majority," Le Parisien quotes. Olivier Farloni was indeed kicked out of the Socialist Party for challenging Royal, whom Hollande officially backed five years after their longtime relationship ended.
Royal said she was "asking for simple things: respect for the political battle and for the fact that she is a mother, whose children also hear what is said."
Stay tuned for the next episode to see if the would-be "wicked stepmother" tweets again...
