President Normal May Soon Rule France

[xchrom]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,789903,00.html


The French, it would seem, have tired of the antics of President Nicolas Sarkozy. Polls indicate that life-long Socialist Francois Hollande stands the best chance of defeating the incumbent. It would mark a significant shift for France -- from flamboyance to staid normalcy.

The candidate was trapped in a paradox, but he seemed not to notice. Wearing the classic blue colors of the French republic to celebrate the occasion, François Hollande signed the "Pact for the Equality of Man and Woman" in a small room at the National Assembly in Paris last Tuesday.

By signing the document, he was pledging to fight for equal gender representation in public offices. But Hollande, who was long the chairman of France's Socialist Party, is presently doing his best to defeat two female rivals for the honor of running against President Nicolas Sarkozy in the April 2012 presidential elections.

The decisive vote for Hollande is this Sunday, when the French will vote in a primary -- which is open to all voters -- to determine the Socialist challenger to the president. Opinion polls show that Hollande, 57, is the clear favorite, ahead of Martine Aubry, 61, and Ségolène Royal, 58, as well as three other male candidates.

What's more, Hollande, who has been a selfless servant of his party since the glorious days of former President François Mitterrand, stands an excellent chance of leading the left back to the nation's top office after 17 years and three consecutive defeats. According to a recent survey, the French -- by a score of 48 percent to 28 percent -- are more confidence that Hollande rather than Sarkozy can solve the country's economic and financial crisis. The poll results are astonishing, given that Hollande has never even held a cabinet position in France.



***:woohoo: