Supporters of the French Socialists rallied around Ségolène Royal on Friday after she won the party’s presidential primary with a big majority of votes, boosting her bid to become the country’s first female president next May.

Her victory, hailed by one of her supporters in Paris as the “birth of a new Socialist party”, helps her to dismiss criticisms that her candidacy was based more on style than substance and she lacked the experience to win the hearts of her party.