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Sarkozy Leads Rivals in Next French Ballot
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy leads a list of potential presidential hopefuls in France, according to a poll by Ifop published in Valeurs Actuelles. 28 per cent of respondents would to re-elect Sarkozy in 2012.
Socialist Party (PS) leader Martine Aubry is second with 20 per cent, followed by François Bayrou of the Democratic Movement (MD) with 14 per cent, Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front with 11 per cent, Olivier Besancenot of the far-left Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) with nine per cent, and former prime minister Dominique de Villepin with eight per cent.
Support is lower for Green Party leader Cécile Duflot, Marie-George Buffet of the French Communist Party (PCF), Nathalie Arthaud of the far-left Workers’ Struggle (LO), and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan of the new Arise the Republic party (DLR).
In May 2007, Sarkozy, candidate for the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and former interior minister, won the presidential run-off with 53.06 per cent of the vote. Sarkozy appointed François Fillon—who had been his adviser and presidential campaign leader—as prime minister.
Earlier this month, Marie NDiaye, a Senegalese-French novelist, became the first black woman to win the most renowned French literary prize, le Prix Goncourt, for her novel Three Powerful Women (Trois Femmes Puissantes). Days later, French media outlets re-produced an old interview with NDiaye in which she criticized the Sarkozy administration, saying, "I find the police state, vulgar atmosphere detestable," and calling some of the ministers "monstrous."
Eric Raoult, an UMP legislator, brought the issue to French culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand saying that Goncourt winners should show "certain respect towards [French] institutions".
Aubry, the PS leader, called Raoult’s comments "unacceptable and worrying", adding that he is behaving like "political censors (who) are so afraid of assuming their actions that they prefer to silence their opponents".
Polling Data
If the first round of the presidential election took place next Sunday, which of the following candidates would you vote for?
|
Nicolas Sarkozy |
28% |
|
Martine Aubry |
20% |
|
François Bayrou |
14% |
|
Marine Le Pen |
11% |
|
Olivier Besancenot |
9% |
|
Dominique de Villepin |
8% |
|
Cécile Duflot |
5% |
|
Marie-George Buffet |
3% |
|
Nathalie Arthaud |
1% |
|
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan |
1% |
Source: Ifop / Valeurs Actuelles
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 892 French voters, conducted on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, 2009. No margin of error was provided.
