A by-election in eastern France has been nothing but bad news for ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party. Eliminated outright in the first round of the February 1 vote, it is now struggling to show a united front for the second round, reports FRANCE 24.
The Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) finished in an embarrassing third place in Sunday’s by-election in the rural Doubs department.
Squeezed out of the February 8 runoff by the candidates from the far-right National Front (FN) party and the ruling left-wing Socialist Party (PS), the UMP has been left with the uncomfortable task of telling its supporters who they should cheer on now that it’s watching the game from the sidelines.
The choice faced by France’s main opposition party after the results of Sunday’s vote has become a familiar one: Tell voters to block Marine Le Pen's surging far-right party by casting a ballot for the Socialist candidate – the so-called “Republican Front” strategy – or, to withhold their support from both sides.
Nicolas Sarkozy opted for the second alternative on Tuesday, known in France as the “ni-ni” option. The UMP party leader refused to endorse the Socialist candidate in the Doubs runoff, all the while offering stern warnings about the danger of the FN. The party would “let voters decide for themselves”, Sarkozy told members, somewhat ambiguously, at a party meeting in Paris.
However, some moderates within the UMP are uncomfortable with the idea of giving even the slightest leeway to the FN.
The country’s mainstream political parties have denounced the virulently anti-immigration and anti-Euro group as incompatible with French democratic values since its founding more than 40 years ago. Endorsing an FN candidate directly is virtually unheard of, even for the most conservative elements within the UMP.
Several prominent UMP figures decided to speak out ahead of Sarkozy's announcement on Tuesday, revealing to reporters where they stand on the prickly “Republican Front vs. ni-ni” question. This in itself was a sign of divisions within France’s conservative camp, but it is also a prelude to what will likely be a bitter clash within the UMP for the party’s 2017 presidential nomination.