Politics in France remains, largely, a male preserve. However, for the first time, a woman has been elected leader of a major political party. Ms Michele Alliot-Marie is the new president of the conservative Rally for the Republic (RPR) party.
Ms Alliot-Marie (53) is known for her brisk, no-nonsense attitude and has promised to build consensus within the party, which was founded by President Jacques Chirac in 1976 and now languishes in opposition.
Ms Alliot-Marie was elected party president on Saturday, winning over 62 per cent of the vote to just 37 per cent for the other candidate, Mr Jean-Paul Delevoye. "C'est une femme!" the French media proclaimed. French politics is a macho domain, and the election of a woman, particularly as president of the traditionally conservative RPR, was significant.
The new leader has ministerial experience, having served as sports minister between 1993 and 1995 in the former prime minister, Mr Edouard Balladur's centre-right government. However her profile recently had been relatively low outside the party. She entered the race for the top spot as an outsider, but mounted an impressive campaign that involved assiduous canvassing at grass roots level.
The elegant Ms Alliot-Marie is portrayed as someone who has the qualities needed to inject the necessary vigour into the RPR, a party with many factions. She has vowed to work with all sides within the party, which acts as a trustee of Gen Charles de Gaulle's political legacy.
The new leader has also said that she will not be bullied, which is seen as a signal to President Chirac. The last time, she said, that she took orders from anyone was when she was six years old, and that was in an argument over dolls.
She first met Mr Chirac in 1967 when she was 20 at a dinner with her father, Bernard, a prominent conservative politician and well-known rugby referee. At that time Mr Chirac was minister for agriculture. As they chatted he proposed that she should come to work for him but the young Michele retorted that she never wanted to enter politics.
Socialist Senator Michel Charzat won election to France's National Assembly in a Paris by-election, defeating Mr Didier Bariani of the Union for French Democracy (UDF).