PARIS, Jan 27: The French Socialist party threw out one of its leading members on Saturday for having said there were too many black players in the national soccer team, adding to the woes of its presidential candidate Segolene Royal.

Georges Freche, president of the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the south and a founding member of the party, is a supporter of Royal.

She has backed his expulsion from the party but it comes at a bad time for her as she faces criticism for a series of gaffes on foreign policy and other issues.

The decision was made at a meeting of members of a commission set up to resolve internal party disputes.

“If he had not said what he said, we would all ... be in a much more agreeable situation,” said Patrick Mennucci, deputy director of Royal’s campaign.—Reuters