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SPIEGEL ONLINE - June 22, 2006, 01:14 PM
URL:
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,422908,00.html
French Elections
Ségolène Royal Emerges As Early Star
By Stefan Simons in Paris
Half a year before the candidates to succeed French President Jacques Chirac
are officially chosen, France's campaign for president is already in full swing
-- evidence of the French people's yearning for a new beginning. Socialist
Ségolène Royal has already emerged as the clear star in the field of potential
contenders.
Election favorite: French Socialist Party Deputy Segolene Royal has already
pulled the rug out from under her political competitors on the major issues.
AFP
Election favorite: French Socialist Party Deputy Segolene Royal has already
pulled the rug out from under her political competitors on the major issues.
A sense of informal sincerity pervades the pale yellow auditorium in the
Renaissance Center in Oullins. About five dozen members of the Socialist Party
(PS) have gathered in the town, located on the outskirts of the southeastern
French city of Lyon, on this Saturday morning to officially welcome the newest
members of the party's local chapter.
The new members' reasons for joining the party are as varied as their
backgrounds. History student Tareq, 26, the son of North African immigrants,
decided to join after the November
<http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,383623,00.html>
riots in French suburbs. Stéphane, 33, an environmental engineer and the
product of a socialist working class family, was intrigued by the opportunity
to play a role in shaping the new program of basic principles. His wife
Juliette, 32, on the other hand, is impressed by the PS's new star politician.
"With Ségolène Royal," says the unemployed social worker, "we can beat the
right wing."
Local party leader Joëlle Séchaud concludes the ritual for new members with an
appeal. She believes that the coming elections could bring fundamental change
to France, "and we need your help to make that happen," the 38-year-old German
teacher says as she invites her newest comrades to join her for a traditional
"glass of friendship."
At precisely the same time, Nicolas Sarkozy is giving a speech in Paris before
a group of freshly recruited members of his conservative Union pour un
mouvement populaire, or UMP party. The head of the UMP is receiving his guests
in the opulent Gaveau concert hall, where he wastes little time on
pleasantries. Sarkozy, also France's interior minister, is positioning himself
as a patriot prepared to take a tough stance on crime and illegal immigration.
He vehemently attacks the Socialists' just-announced campaign platform, calling
it proof positive that his political rivals are "steaming ahead full-speed into
the past."
Although the next presidential election is still a full 10 months away, the
election campaign already feels as though it were about to enter its hottest
phase. Despite the World Cup and the disappointing start for the French team
("les Bleus"), and despite the upcoming two-month summer break, party
strategists and political experts have already shifted their propaganda
machines into high gear.
In planning committees, PR and advertising consultants, sensing a renewed
interest in politics nationwide, are busy fine-tuning TV ads and catchy
slogans. Both the Socialists and the UMP have managed to almost double their
membership rolls within a few months, partly because it's now possible to
become a registered party member by phone, text message or Internet. All it
takes is a few double-clicks.
As if the entire election were already at stake, UMP leader Sarkozy spends his
days rushing from one appointment to the next. He appears to have a special
preference for photo ops with police officers or firefighters. During his
public appearances, orchestrated like extravagant patriotic rituals, Sarkozy
routinely rages against the scourge of immigration and positions himself as the
spokesman of an anxious middle class.
The Socialists are also taking precautions to avoid a repeat of the trauma of
the 2002 presidential election, when Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin,
following a disastrous campaign, lost to right-wing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen
in the first round and was eliminated from the race. This time around the PS,
whose members won't be voting for their candidate until the Nov. 16 party
primary, faces a different problem, as half a dozen contenders vie for the top
spot on the party's ticket.
But the fact that next year's vote, which will include both presidential and,
one month later, parliamentary elections, is arousing so much interest today
also shows that the French no longer feel any connection to their government --
and vice-versa.
French President Jacques Chirac (left) and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
are slowly fading from the political stage.
REUTERS
French President Jacques Chirac (left) and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
are slowly fading from the political stage.
President Jacques Chirac and some of his political allies seem disinterested
and almost put-upon, as if it were wholly unreasonable to expect them to
continue governing this country and its people. Prime Minister Dominique de
Villepin, who only six months ago had hoped to succeed Chirac, has descended
into a vortex of scandals.
And the Socialists' top politicians -- an old boys' club of former cabinet
ministers the media has dubbed the "elephants" -- convey neither enthusiasm nor
visions.
Against this background of grey tones, an election is materializing that most
Frenchmen hope will be a major turning point for the country, as the race for
the presidency increasingly becomes an early showdown between the Socialists'
star politician, Ségolène Royal, 52, and UMP leader Nicolas Sarkozy, 51.
Both embody a generational change, are calling for a revamping of French
politics and come equipped with a biography that has taken them from difficult
beginnings to political prominence. Sarkozy likes to remind voters of his days
as a child
<http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,384823,00.html>
of immigrants and Royal is quick to point out her rise to political stardom
from exceedingly
<http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,411230,00.html>
modest circumstances.
The reformers
Both candidates are also presenting themselves as morally upright reformers and
as honest representatives of the people, untainted by cliques, corruption and
the intricate web of relationships within the Paris elite, and untouched by the
institutional machinery of the French republic. The two candidates are
convinced that France, previously a bastion of opposition to reform, is finally
ready to make up for its past mistakes.
But the image of the political outsider the two front-runners have sought to
sell to voters is mostly an illusion. Both Sarkozy and Royal have been members
of the establishment for decades. The UMP chief has been a member of parliament
and served as both finance and interior minister. The Socialist, today
president of the Poitou-Charentes region and a graduate of the École nationale
d'administration (ENA), a training ground for future politicians, served as
Minister of the Environment under former President Francois Mitterand and later
headed the education and family ministries under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
Nevertheless, the two political pros have somehow managed to come across, at
least in the eyes of the public, as unsullied leaders. Given France's current
host of problems -- chronically high unemployment, an oppressive national debt
burden of more than €1 trillion euros and a half-hearted approach to reform
that usually ends in lazy compromises -- Royal and Sarkozy have awakened hopes
for a new beginning.
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a "break" with
inherited French structures and traditions.
AP
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a "break" with
inherited French structures and traditions.
Capitalizing on this public mood, the UMP leader has unabashedly called for a
"break" with inherited structures and traditions, even a revamping of the
constitution. The Socialist, for her part, favors a model of "participatory
democracy" meant to give citizens the power to become involved in government
and exert their influence more directly.
Dogmatists within their own parties are probably the only ones who are troubled
by Sarkozy's and Royal's propensity to discard ideological dead weight.
Sixty-one percent of Frenchmen are unable to discern any difference between the
two major political camps, and 67 percent even favor a German-style grand
coalition as a way to put an end to ongoing political divisions.
An unorthodox contender
But despite public opinion, such a union between right and left is unlikely to
materialize, because Royal is currently benefiting from this pragmatic move
toward the center. Once dismissed as the "media's candidate," Royal, after
remaining cautiously reserved for a period of time, has since developed into a
true vote-getter for her party -- first by intelligently portraying herself as
a female outsider and then as a champion of order, authority and family with
conservative values. By deliberating crossing ideological party lines, Royal
has not only outpaced the male competition within her own party, but also the
UMP's leading candidate.
The PS's unorthodox female contender initially offended her own party hierarchy
by praising the economic policies of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Then
she pointed out the negative consequences of the 35-hour work week, an
institution every other PS candidate has consistently praised as an untouchable
achievement of the Socialists.
Finally, Royal surprised the public with yet another about-face. A mother of
four, she argued that gays and lesbians should be entitled to enter into unions
similar to marriage, complete with all the rights enjoyed by married couples --
including adoption.
But Royal smashed her biggest taboo yet during a visit to Paris suburb Bondy,
one of the centers of urban conflict euphemistically dubbed "sensitive
neighborhoods. After criticizing the government's poor showing on security
matters, she called for "military supervision" for first-time offenders over 16
years of age. She also argued that family welfare subsidies should no longer be
as accessible for low-income parents and recommended a program of mandatory
civil service for all young people.
Unions and student representatives railing against the PS's "elephants" called
Royal's words a "betrayal of leftist values. "We already have a Sarkozy, and we
don't need another one," said former Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Even François Hollande, the head of the PS and Royal's life partner, couldn't
resist referring to some of Royal's statements as "idiotic."
But the uproar among the party leadership was short-lived. The majority of
Frenchmen -- leftist voters and Socialist party members included -- applauded
Royal's radical proposals. Indeed, the politician demonstrated, once again, her
adeptness at playing to popular issues. "The originality of her proposals
consists in her efforts to bring the Socialist Party to its knees," wrote the
conservative Figaro. The leftist candidate has managed to simply hijack the
issues of order and security, previously Sarkozy's rallying cries.
The interior minister was wholly unprepared for his adversary's unexpected
moves. The hardliner, who had fashioned the war on crime into the cornerstone
of his bid to move into the Elysée Palace, now finds himself forced to look on
helplessly as the PS's top candidate reaps the political capital generated by
his own campaign promises. Retreating into irony is practically his only
recourse. "Just keep on going," said a sarcastic Sarkozy, "you're on the right
track."
Although the Socialist leadership realizes that its right-wing opponent has
been weakened, it has been careful to keep its enthusiasm in check, fearful
that no one will be able to stop Royal's seemingly steady march to victory. But
the PS's base, on the other hand, sees its preferred candidate moving one step
closer to the presidency. History student Tareq, at the party's local office in
Oullins, says he can very well imagine "a woman assuming the highest office in
the Republic. Now that would be something."
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
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