 | mostly about french politics, but this lede is the key point IMO: |
French voters are lurching towards the political extremes ahead of next year’s presidential elections out of frustration with the government and the system it embodies, according to François Bayrou, head of the centrist UDF party. Mr Bayrou, the UDF’s presidential candidate, warned the 2007 elections risked repeating the humiliation of 2002, when far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen shocked the world by coming second in the opening round of the presidential ballot. |