PARIS: The French presidential campaign officially closed Friday with the Gaullist front-runner, Nicolas Sarkozy, looking ever more assured of winning Sunday and his Socialist rival, Ségolène Royal, predicting street violence if he is elected. Her warning came after the two latest opinion polls suggested Sarkozy would beat her by a bigger margin than predicted a few days ago, before a combative debate on national television in which Sarkozy kept his cool under rhetorical fire from Royal.
"Choosing Nicolas Sarkozy would be a dangerous choice," Royal told the radio station RTL.
"It is my responsibility today to warn people of the risk of his candidacy concerning the violence and brutality that would be unleashed in the country," she said, suggesting that unrest was especially likely in the volatile suburbs that were the site of rioting in 2005.
B-b-but h-h-e's HUNGARIAN. He's not French enough. Of course, we weaselifoerous ones won't like it!
| 'Brutality' has been one of Sego's buzz words; she's been trying to hang it on Sarko the entire election. |
Whoever wins, the 2007 election will go down in history as one that shook France's political landscape. Sarkozy built a united party machine on the right, and while Royal failed to paper over the large cracks in the Socialist party, the emergence of a strong centrist vote for François Bayrou, third-place finisher in the first round two weeks ago, helped change the left. It must now decide whether to jettison traditional socialism in favor of the more market-oriented social democracy embraced by the left elsewhere in Europe.
Umm Mr. Blair, since you are retiring would you mind consulting? |