Juppé, Fillon or Le Pen: who will define the French right?

And once more the polls have got it wrong. For months French pollsters confidently predicted that the first round of voting to find the centre-right candidate to represent Les Républicains in next year’s presidential election was a straight shootout between Nicolas Sarkozy and Alain Juppé. The other five contenders? There to make up the numbers in the three televised debates.

One or two whispers began to emerge a few weeks ago that François Fillon was gaining ground but few believed that the man who served as Sarkozy’s Prime Minister nearly a decade ago would romp to victory with 44.1 per cent of the vote. Juppé was a distant second, with a 28.2 per cent share, and way back in third was Sarkozy on 21 per cent. ‘I have no bitterness, I have no sadness, and I wish the best for my country,’ Sarkozy said, as his political comeback turned into bitter humiliation.

It was the first time that Les Républicains (formally the UMP) have held a presidential primary and according