Paris  - A French Socialist Party commission charged with investigating claims of election irregularities has determined that former presidential candidate Segolene Royal has lost the race to become party leader.

The official recount established that Lille Mayor Martine Aubry beat Royal by 102 votes out of nearly 135,000 cast.

Originally Aubry had been credited with a winning margin of only 42 votes, or 0.04 per cent. The closeness of the contest and reports of irregularities in several voting districts, including in Lille, had moved Royal supporters to charge that the election had been stolen.

The national council of the Socialist Party, which was meeting later Tuesday, was expected to certify the election results and officially name 58-year-old Aubry as the party's first-ever female leader.

It was unclear what Royal's reaction to the setback would be.

Earlier on Tuesday, the online edition of the daily Le Monde reported that representatives of Royal on the vote-count commission had demanded that the Socialist Party annul Friday's election because of the numerous irregularities.

"The way the election was carried out provoked a deep indignation considering the number of irregularities certified and the small number of votes separating the two candidates," they wrote in a letter to the commission.

Some aides to Royal have said they would go to court if Aubry's election is made official.

The setback will probably put an end to Royal's ambition to face off against President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 presidential election. Sarkozy beat her by a substantial margin in the 2007 vote.

However, the bitter dispute has caused such bad blood within the party, and made it to lose so much credibility, that Sarkozy may have little trouble defeating any Socialist candidate, if he chooses to stand again in 2012. (dpa)