Future French first lady tweets joy at Hollande victory

Socialist Party candidate for the presidential election Francois Hollande exits a polling station with his companion Valerie Trierweiler as he tours after voting in the second round of the presidential election in Tulle, central France, Sunday, May 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

PARIS — France’s future first lady took to the web to tweet her joy Sunday at the election of her partner, Francois Hollande, as France’s first Socialist president in nearly two decades.

“Simply proud to accompany the new president of the republic and still just as happy to share Francois’s life,” Valerie Trierweiler announced on the micro-blogging social network.

Trierweiler followed several election campaigns as a political journalist before and during her hitherto private partnership with Hollande.

The 47-year-old was credited as adding a little glamour to a partner who was seen as too down to earth to seem truly presidential.

The mother of three is credited with helping Hollande to shed 10 kilos (22 pounds) and convincing him to drop his avuncular, jokey performances for a more statesman-like stance.

Trierweiler’s private life has also had political implications.

Her predecessor in Hollande’s affections was Segolene Royal, mother of his four children and their Socialist Party’s defeated 2007 presidential candidate.

Trierweiler was already Hollande’s partner during the 2007 race, but Royal and he kept their separation secret during the polling. Since then the former lovers became rivals, standing against one another in the party primary.

Royal is still a figure in the party, and will probably play a role in Hollande’s new government or become speaker of parliament.