The French president’s chances of re-election look bleak. But the problem is not his politics, says Patrick Marnham, so much as his embarrassing personal life
Gordon Brown is not the only European leader who is regarded as an electoral liability by his own party. With two years to go before France’s next presidential election Nicolas Sarkozy’s chances are not looking good. He is entitled to run for a second five-year term, but in 2012 it will be 24 years since the French chose a president from the left. Many voters think it is time for a change. Mr Sarkozy is now one of the most unpopular political personalities in France.
In last month’s regional elections the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP), Sarkozy’s party, lost 21 out of 22 regions to the Parti Socialiste. And within days the tractors were once again rolling into Paris, 1,000-strong, carrying mobs of angry farmers. Three years of frantic attempts to drag France into the economic 21st century seem to have got nowhere.
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