Former Socialist French Prime minister Lionel Jospin withdrew from the race for the 2007 presidential election yesterday, in good news for the party’s front-runner Segolene Royal.

Jospin, 69, stirred up his party when he made a tearful comeback this summer after four years of political retirement, indicating he could compete for the party’s presidential candidacy against Royal and a row of male contenders. “I can confirm, it’s ‘No’,” Jospin told RTL radio, saying he had not been able to rally the party behind him. “I don’t regret it. I have taken the wisest decision,” the former economics professor said.

Jospin had retired from political life following a humiliating defeat in the 2002 presidential election, when far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen forced him out of the run-off against conservative Jacques Chirac.