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French Presidential Election Sees Right Victorious
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy beat his socialist opponent, Segolénè Royal, to win the French presidency––the new incumbent promises market reforms.
30 Second Summary
May 6––Sarkozy confirmed the expectations of political pollsters, securing 53.3% of the vote in the two-candidate presidential run-off.
Sarkozy campaigned on radical economic change, promising to revitalize a languishing economy by rolling back the state and curtailing the unions.
Royal, who elected would have been France’s first woman president, won 46.7% of the vote. In total, 85% of the electorate took part. Many commentators judged the result to be a crushing defeat for French socialism.
Sarkozy achieved international notoriety during the riots that spread through the immigrant suburbs of France in 2005. As the interior minister in Jacques Chirac’s government, Sarkozy described the rioters as “scum.”
That uncompromising, some say insensitive, attitude seems to have served him well in an election in which immigration was central. His hard-line image allowed him to steal supporters from far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen.
In the 2002 election, Le Pen was the surprise candidate in the presidential run-off against Chirac.
Sarkozy campaigned on radical economic change, promising to revitalize a languishing economy by rolling back the state and curtailing the unions.
Royal, who elected would have been France’s first woman president, won 46.7% of the vote. In total, 85% of the electorate took part. Many commentators judged the result to be a crushing defeat for French socialism.
Sarkozy achieved international notoriety during the riots that spread through the immigrant suburbs of France in 2005. As the interior minister in Jacques Chirac’s government, Sarkozy described the rioters as “scum.”
That uncompromising, some say insensitive, attitude seems to have served him well in an election in which immigration was central. His hard-line image allowed him to steal supporters from far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen.
In the 2002 election, Le Pen was the surprise candidate in the presidential run-off against Chirac.
Headline
The final vote count showed Sarkozy had 53.3% to Royal’s 46.7%. Despite Royal’s call for female solidarity, Sarkozy took the majority of women’s votes, according to an international polling company.
Source: The International Herald Tribune
Sarkozy’s acceptance speech included a message for Americans: “I want to tell them that France will always be by their side when they need her but that friendship is also accepting the fact that friends can think differently.” He went on to entreat America to take the lead in the battle against climate change.
Source: The International herald Tribune
Reactions
Segolénè Royal conceded defeat on Sunday night. “Universal suffrage has spoken,” she said. “I wish the next president of the Republic the best in accomplishing his mission in the service of all the French people.”
Source: France24.com
Sarkozy has said that as president he will reduce the power of the trade unions, which he depicts as a burden on economic development. The day after his victory, French newspaper L’Humanité brought together seven leading trade unionists to discuss the election.
Source: L’Humanité
Business Week predicts that Sarkozy will have an uphill struggle to enact all the reforms he has proposed. Labor unions are already threatening to strike over some proposals, “such as letting people choose whether to work more than the current maximum 35-hour work week.”
Source: Business Week
President Bush phoned Sarkozy to congratulate him. “The United States and France are historic allies and partners,” said the spokesman for the White House’s National Security council.
Source: The International Herald Tribune
The new French premier has said that Turkey’s entry into the EU would mean the “death of political Europe.” The Turkish media is consequently unhappy about Sarkozy’s victory. The BBC provides a round-up of international reactions to the French election results.
Source: BBC
Election Issues
Employment law was a central issue in the election. Sarkozy pledged to exempt overtime from taxes; Royal promised 90% of salaries for the first year of unemployment. The BBC breaks down the policies of the competing parties.
Source: BBC
Unemployment, immigration and security were the key issues in the election, according to Reuters. The European Union barely registered as a campaign item.
Source: Reuters
Key Players
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy was raised in Paris, the son of a Hungarian immigrant and a French citizen of Greek Jewish descent. He was considered a Chirac protégé until Sarkozy supported Chirac’s rival for the presidency in 1995. Sarkozy has backed measures to prevent illegal immigration, including deportation, as well as positive discrimination to help end youth unemployment.
Source: BBC
When asked by Charlie Rose in February 2007 why he wants to change France fundamentally, Sarkozy stated, “I want to reconcile France with success––there is a moral crisis in France––it’s called the crisis of labor.” He further stated, “I believe in capitalism, competition … I don’t like golden parachutes.”
Source: DailyMotion.com
In a 2004 interview with Time magazine, then Finance Minister Sarkozy considered his chances for a presidential run in 2007. "Is France reformable?" he asked himself during the interview. “My reply is, without hesitation, yes. France not only can reform, it's waiting for it."
Source: Time Magazine
Mr. Sarkozy represents the Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, UMP), a center-right political party.
Source: Official Web site for the Union for a Popular Movement (in French)
The official presidential campaign Web site for Nicolas Sarkozy allows users to post questions to the president-elect as well as watch videos of Sarkozy.
Source: Sarkozy's campaign Web site (in French)
Segolénè Royal
“Me, I am happy to have given a message of hope,” Segolénè Royal posted on her presidential campaign Web site after losing to Sarkozy. “I know that there are many disappointed and sad people … therefore I take my interior force to continue to communicate energy to them.”
Source: Segolénè Royal's campaign Web site (In French, translated by Google)
Segolénè Royal was the presidential candidate from the Socialist Party. She pledged to raise pensions, increase the minimum wage, and guarantee a job or further training for every youth within six months of graduating.
Source: The International Herald Tribune
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Sarkozy’s policies stole the thunder from far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, Jacques Chirac’s opponent in the 2002 election. Sarkozy wooed the right with promises to set up a ministry of immigration and national identity.
Source: The Guardian
Le pen founded his far-right Front National Party in 1972 and has run for president eight times. He has a reputation for xenophobia, and received a conviction in 1997 for anti-Semitic remarks.
Source: CNN
Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac has held many positions, including prime minister in 1974, mayor of Paris from 1977–1995, and president in 1995. Chirac was leader of the center-right Union for a Popular Movement party (UMP). Despite being from the same party, Chirac did not make a single campaign appearance in support of Nicolas Sarkozy. After the French public rejected an EU Constitution in 2005, which Chirac had supported, his approval ratings fell into the 20% range.
Source: Official Web site of the French Presidency
French Riots, 2005
On October 25, 2005 Nicolas Sarkozy visited a Paris suburb and was pelted with stones. He described the violent elements as “gangrene” that needed to be “hosed from the streets.” Two days later two teenagers died when they hid from police in a power station, prompting three weeks of rioting in poor immigrant neighborhoods throughout France.
Source: BBC
The rioting started in a suburban ghetto, Clichy-sous-Bois, when two young men fleeing the police died, electrocuted while they hid in a power station. Journalist Darren Foster covered the story, interviewing disaffected youths in Clichy-sous-Bois.
Source: PBS
Sarkozy, who was interior minister at the time, caused controversy when he described the rioters as “scum.” He also recommended the creation of special schools in poor neighborhoods, as part of a policy called discrimination positive la française, which translates as “affirmative action.”
Source: The Independent
The police initially denied that they pursuing the two boys who were electrocuted in a power station. In December 2006, an inquiry confirmed that the chase had indeed happened.
Source: BBC
Opinions
Sarkozy has promised economic reforms comparable to those of the Thatcher revolution in 80s Britain. Journalist Craig S. Smith is doubtful that change will occur quickly: life in France is “plenty comfortable” and “costly as the system may be, it’s not exactly broken”; Smith also opines that a resistance to change is part of French culture.
Source: The New York Times (free registration required)
Historian Jeremi Suri argues that the defeat of Royal, the leader of “the most prominent socialist party of Western Europe,” marks “the end of socialism as a viable political ideology” in that part of the world.
Source: The Huffington Post
It is too easy to feel complacent about America’s comparative success when considering the French economy, argues journalist Tony Judt. The French are healthier, better educated, and live longer, and there are fewer poor people in France. Chirac has blocked the Americanization of the French economy and stood against Iraq––actions for which posterity may praise him.
Source: The New York Times (free registration required)
Royal fought a lackluster campaign, and, says the Independent, her defeat is “a stinging, personal rebuff.” However, she may also be remembered as “something of a visionary” as she “tried to reconcile left-wing aims … with conservative family values and a pragmatic ‘whatever works’ approach to government.”
Source: The Independent
John Nicholls of the Nation assesses Sarkozy’s U.S. stance, and underlines a statement made in his acceptance speech that “the United States has the duty to not obstruct the fight against global warming.” This is “no French poodle,” writes Nicholls.
Source: The Nation
History of Franco-American Relations
Relations between the United States and France date back to before the American Revolution. Although the two nations have been allied for much of U.S. history, their relationship has not been without its difficulties. The Council on Foreign Relations offers an interactive timeline of important Franco-American events.
Source: The Council on Foreign Relations
In addition to political treaties and alliances, France and the United States have shared longstanding cultural ties of which the Statue of Liberty is the most celebrated symbol. The American French Embassy offers a history of Franco-American relations.
Source: The American French Embassy
The French and Indian War began in 1754 as a conflict between France and Great Britain over the area surrounding what is now Pittsburgh. The conflict soon escalated into a war over America that saw the French ally with Native American tribes against Great Britain and the colonists. The conclusion of the war set the stage for the American Revolution, and an alliance between the colonists of the burgeoning nation and their former enemy France.
After the French and Indian War ended in 1763, and most of France’s land holdings in America were divided among Great Britain and Spain, a series of British taxes on the colonies inspired the widespread resentment that lead to 1776’s Declaration of Independence. The French became an important ally of the colonies, providing money, arms, and military support. In the 1778 Treaty of Alliance with France, the United States and France agreed not to make peace with Great Britain until the U.S. was recognized as a sovereign nation.
The Smithsonian Institute has a multimedia exhibit of the American Revolution.
Source: The Smithsonian Institute
The American Revolution officially ended on September 3, 1783 in Paris, where the United States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris. OurDocuments.gov has a summary and digital image of the treaty.
Source: OurDocuments.gov
In 1812, the United States once again declared war on Great Britain. Britain was then at war with Napoleon, and had prompted U.S. ire by trying to block France’s trade with America. Another U.S. motivation was the desire to conquer Canadian territories. The decisive battle of the War of 1812 took place in French-established New Orleans. The Smithsonian Institute offers this multimedia exhibit of the War of 1812.
Source: The Smithsonian Institute
From the 1880s until the end of World War II, Vietnam was under French colonial rule. When Japan invaded Vietnam in 1940, the United States formed a tentative alliance with the Communist Viet Minh to oust the Japanese. When the Japanese surrendered in 1945, the Viet Minh declared independence for Vietnam. The United States, fearing the spread of communism in Asia, entered into armed conflict with the Viet Minh. In 1964, French President de Gaulle denounced the American war in Vietnam, saying the region should be left to rule itself.
President de Gaulle's statements from a July 23, 1964 press conference.
Source: Fordham University
Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville was a French aristocrat who visited America in 1831 to study the growing democracy. His two-volume account of that trip, Democracy in America, has become a mainstay of history and sociology syllabuses.
Source: Tocqueville.org
Tocqueville believed that all nations were moving inevitably along the road to democracy, and as America had gone farthest on that route there was much to learn from the States. The central theme of Democracy in America is the conflict between individual liberty and an environment of growing equality.
Source: GradeSaver.com
“Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom”––Alexis de Tocqueville.
Source: BrainyQuote.com
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