Sarko to be back?
After a 30-year career in public life, Nicolas Sarkozy left the Elysee Palace, vowing to "never return there". But just a year after that emotional promise after the defeat in the presidential election, the French seem to be feeling a serious Sarko-nostalgia. Recent polls suggest that he would've won by a landslide against Hollande if a new election was held today. Besides, the former president would be unanimously supported by the right as their presidential candidate (the next election is in 2017).
Since he lost the presidency, Sarkozy has enjoyed a lot of discretion about his private life, and he hasn't expressed any opinion on the current political situation in his country. But some are seeing in this silence a well calculated strategy, a game, and a plan to return to power if the public moods are "ripe" for that. But he sure will wait for people to get completely fed up with Hollande first, and outright ask for his return.
Many in Sarkozy's party are convinced that, given the current developments in France, the French people will inevitably turn to him once again. And that wouldn't be such a surprise. Generally speaking, the French are very prone to succumbing to nostalgia for their former rulers, even if they had been the very same people who voted them out.
But the fact is that Hollande is in big trouble these days. His ratings have been plummeting for the first 11 months of his term, and that's a precedent in the modern French history. The latest polls show that he's now enjoying only 27% approval ratings. And let's remember that Sarko's defeat on the election was very narrow, he got 48% of the vote. So now it would seem that many of those 52% who voted for Hollande are having second thoughts.
Hollande often likes to pose as "Mr Normal", but this label doesn't seem to be so appealing to the voters any more, because they may be finding him "too normal" now, and maybe a little indecisive, especially in regards to dealing with the economic crisis. And despite his resolute actions in Mali. And suddenly Sarko's fiery character starts looking more appealing than ever. Because people do have a short memory. Now he's not viewed as intemperate and unbalanced as he used to be, but as someone who's ready to fight to the last breath.
There's also the celebrity factor. Sarko and his wife have something like a superstar aura about them. Carla Bruni is now back to writing songs and she has just issued a new album. And, surprise-surprise, apart from some mockery directed at the new president, it contains a song praising her beloved one, presenting him as a sentimental, complicated guy and of course... a living dynamite. And if there's one thing the French admire the most, it's passion.
All that said, we should mention that there's one big uncertainty about Sarko's prospects for getting back into big politics. The ongoing criminal investigation on charges of bribery (he stands accused of taking illicit donations from the heir to the cosmetic empire L'Oreal for his 2007 campaign). The stakes are very high in that court case. The chief investigator Jean-Michel Gentil even received some death threats, an envelope with a bullet in it was delivered at his home. The French judicial system seems to be under immense political pressure, since its decision could define the future of the country for the following years.
Untypically, Sarko has kept his cool amidst all this turmoil, and he prefers to act as a cunning strategist. He's just biding his time somewhere in the sidelines. It would be a mistake to write him off from politics, because it's not just his hot wife who's glorifying his leadership qualities. Much like Berlusconi, he might be a controversial person, but Sarko definitely knows how to garner public support.
Since he lost the presidency, Sarkozy has enjoyed a lot of discretion about his private life, and he hasn't expressed any opinion on the current political situation in his country. But some are seeing in this silence a well calculated strategy, a game, and a plan to return to power if the public moods are "ripe" for that. But he sure will wait for people to get completely fed up with Hollande first, and outright ask for his return.
Many in Sarkozy's party are convinced that, given the current developments in France, the French people will inevitably turn to him once again. And that wouldn't be such a surprise. Generally speaking, the French are very prone to succumbing to nostalgia for their former rulers, even if they had been the very same people who voted them out.
But the fact is that Hollande is in big trouble these days. His ratings have been plummeting for the first 11 months of his term, and that's a precedent in the modern French history. The latest polls show that he's now enjoying only 27% approval ratings. And let's remember that Sarko's defeat on the election was very narrow, he got 48% of the vote. So now it would seem that many of those 52% who voted for Hollande are having second thoughts.
Hollande often likes to pose as "Mr Normal", but this label doesn't seem to be so appealing to the voters any more, because they may be finding him "too normal" now, and maybe a little indecisive, especially in regards to dealing with the economic crisis. And despite his resolute actions in Mali. And suddenly Sarko's fiery character starts looking more appealing than ever. Because people do have a short memory. Now he's not viewed as intemperate and unbalanced as he used to be, but as someone who's ready to fight to the last breath.
There's also the celebrity factor. Sarko and his wife have something like a superstar aura about them. Carla Bruni is now back to writing songs and she has just issued a new album. And, surprise-surprise, apart from some mockery directed at the new president, it contains a song praising her beloved one, presenting him as a sentimental, complicated guy and of course... a living dynamite. And if there's one thing the French admire the most, it's passion.
All that said, we should mention that there's one big uncertainty about Sarko's prospects for getting back into big politics. The ongoing criminal investigation on charges of bribery (he stands accused of taking illicit donations from the heir to the cosmetic empire L'Oreal for his 2007 campaign). The stakes are very high in that court case. The chief investigator Jean-Michel Gentil even received some death threats, an envelope with a bullet in it was delivered at his home. The French judicial system seems to be under immense political pressure, since its decision could define the future of the country for the following years.
Untypically, Sarko has kept his cool amidst all this turmoil, and he prefers to act as a cunning strategist. He's just biding his time somewhere in the sidelines. It would be a mistake to write him off from politics, because it's not just his hot wife who's glorifying his leadership qualities. Much like Berlusconi, he might be a controversial person, but Sarko definitely knows how to garner public support.