PARIS, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Segolene Royal of the French Socialist Party is campaigning to make history as the first female president of France, which will hold a presidential run-off on Sunday pitting Royal against her right-wing rival Nicolas Sarkozy.

    However, Royal faces a daunting task to fulfill her mission as the latest polls show her about eight to nine percent behind Sarkozy, president of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).

    According to a TNS Sofres survey published on Friday, the last day for official campaigning ahead of Sunday's run-off vote, 54.5 percent of voters say they would choose Sarkozy as their new president while 45.5 percent say they would support Royal. Meanwhile, an IPSOS poll put Sarkozy at 54 percent against 46 percent for Royal.

    The two presidential candidates enter the run-off after finishing first and second in the April 22 first-round vote, with Sarkozy winning 31.2 percent and Royal 25.9 percent of the votes.

    France's 44 million eligible voters will cast their votes on Sunday and voting began in some of France's overseas territories on Saturday to avoid problems caused by the time difference with the mainland.

    Royal, nicknamed "Sego," was born on Sept. 22, 1953 in Dakar, Senegal. She is president of the Poitou-Charentes region and a member of the National Assembly.

    She graduated from the elite Ecole Rationale Administration where many French leaders received their education, and was a classmate of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.

    Royal emerged from obscurity in the Socialist Party, which has not held the presidency since Francois Mitterrand retired in 1995,and won the nomination of her candidacy by defeating party heavyweights.

    Royal served as environment minister, has held several other ministerial portfolios and was elected president of the Poitou-Charentes region in March 2004.

    As a left-wing politician, Royal promises increases in the minimum wage, state pensions and more protection for the jobless.

    Royal's partner is Socialist leader Francois Hollande, with whom she has four children.