MARTINE AUBRY'S first act as new leader of the French socialists yesterday was to invite her rival Ségolène Royal for a one-hour discussion on the future of the party.
As she left the meeting, Royal spoke of "a very good atmosphere" and said she was waiting to see what proposals Aubry will put forward when they meet again on Saturday.
"At last, I have a successor," the outgoing Socialist leader - and Royal's former partner - François Hollande wrote in his blog.
In the final vote on Tuesday evening, Hollande supported Aubry against the mother of his children.
By displaying a modicum of civility yesterday, Aubry and Royal ended a three-week period that nearly split France's oldest political party.
The satirical weekly Le Canardenchaîné likened their showdown to "a women's mud-wrestling match" and regretted that "for months the principal opposition party has opposed only itself".
It was high time the socialist "psychodrama" came to an end, the right-wing Le Figaro newspaper's editorial said.
The contest "made the socialists despair, and amused non-socialists, but it was becoming boring".
Late on Tuesday, the commission that spent two days recounting votes from last Friday's election for party leader concluded that Aubry had received 67,451 votes, compared to 67,349 for Royal, a difference of 102 votes.
Results announced on Saturday morning had given Aubry a 42-vote lead over Royal.
When the 300-strong national council voted on Tuesday evening, Aubry received 159 votes and Royal 76, with two abstentions.
Royal's followers yesterday dropped threats to sue the party for vote fraud, but relations between the two camps remain tense.
Royal said she "reminded Martine that 50 per cent of party members expressed a very, very strong desire for the transformation of the party".
Though she is at a disadvantage in the party apparatus, Royal will build on the popular support she enjoys to strengthen her new role as leader of internal opposition within the party.
Henceforward, there will be a Royal "current" or faction, just as there have been Jospin, Fabius, Hollande, Strauss-Kahn and Delanoe factions until now.
"She's going to continue to make our lives hell," predicted a source close to Aubry.
For their part, Royal's supporters mocked the "old party" which elected Aubry, alluding to the "central committee" and the "politburo".
In a video which she posted on the internet yesterday, Royal told her supporters: "We must continue the fight, for 2012 is tomorrow."
When Royal lost the presidential election to Nicolas Sarkozy in May 2007, she made what sounded like a victory speech.
Likewise, she seems to believe her failed attempt to take over the socialist party will not prevent her from challenging Sarkozy again in the presidential election three and a half years from now.
When Aubry's victory was announced on Tuesday night, her first gesture was to kiss Royal, who was sitting in the front row.
The two women then held separate press conferences.
"Laugh a few more days," Aubry told the French right.
"Starting next week, the socialist party will be back," Aubry added.