The French presidential elections finally begin Sunday, April 22nd, with the first-round eliminatory vote that will see just two candidates qualified for the final knock-out second round on May 6th. But just what are the issues for the French electorate, and what is the background to a poll that foreign observers describe as “one of the most interesting in decades” (CNN), “fascinating and worrisome” (Los Angeles Times), and with “the capacity not only to change the face of politics in France but Europe too” (The Guardian)? To better understand what is at stake and, importantly, as seen from within France, Mediapart presents here a selection of reports from its extensive campaign coverage.
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- Social issues:
How the French Far Right is capturing an abandoned social class
France’s blue collar workers, junior white-collar staff, the unemployed and the retired make up a lower class that is also the majority among the country’s electorate. Hit hardest by the current economic crisis, and largely ignored by the traditional Left, there are consistent indicators that a significant proportion is being won over by the Far Right Front National party presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen. In this interview with Mediapart, social geographer Christophe Guilluy offers an insight into an economic and social groundshift in France that has produced an abandoned and despairing category of the population, what he calls “a new lower class which the Left does not really understand”.
A middle France pushed to extremes
As France the presidential elections gathered pace, held over two rounds in April and May, both the mainstream Left and Right are threatened with a significant desertion of their core electorate among the country’s low- and middle-income earners, struggling to survive the devastating effects of the economic crisis and revolted by a series of major scandals among the political elites. Rachida el Azzouziand Mathieu Magnaudeix report from Crepoil and La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, two dormitory communities just east of Paris, where hope in the future has turned to rage against broken promises.
On the road with France's down and almost-out
A quarter of a million people in France are homeless, or live in precarious living conditions according to a report published last year by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, INSEE, while another 2.9 million live in "uncomfortable" accomodation. Elodie Berthaud travelled France to meet with students, tradesmen, unemployed and seasonal workers who have reached the last rung of the social ladder.
How the roof collapsed on French home ownership dream
When he was elected in 2007, French president Nicolas Sarkozy presented an ambitious programme to increase home ownership in France, raising the number of French households that are owner occupiers from 57% to 70%. But five years on, despite introducing tax breaks and interest-free loan schemes, the figure has inched to just 58%, a similar increase to the previous five-year presidential term. Ellen Salvi reports on what went wrong.
French housing crisis report calls for urgent building plan
France has reached an unprecedented housing crisis, with an estimated 3.6 million people living in inadequate or substandard housing while the country lacks some 900,000 accommodations in the publicly-managed ‘social housing’rented sector. That was the dire message of the latest yearly report released in February by the Fondation Abbé Pierre pour le logement des défavorisés, ('The Abbé Pierre Foundation for Housing of the Needy'), one of France’s leading charitable organisations dedicated to improving housing conditions for the poor. Ellen Salvi reports.
Initial information about Toulouse killer Mohamed Merah suggests that his is a story of modern France. Like the earlier case of Algerian-born Khaled Kelkal, who was shot dead by gendarmes in 1995 after being implicated in a wave of bomb attacks in France, the story of Mohamed Merah holds up a mirror to society. And, says Mediapart editor François Bonnet, it raises vital questions for presidential candidates who seek to provide an alternative to the current presidency.
How the cost-cutting bug made French hospitals sick
The French healthcare system has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the most comprehensive and effective worldwide. But all that came at a price which is now the target of severe cost-cutting drives. Noémie Rousseau talked to staff at several of the country's major hospitals, once an example of excellence, who detail how they try to cope with harrowing conditions, short of the most basic supplies including sheets, bed pads, syringes and nurses' uniforms.
French youth caught in a spiral of poverty and unemployment
One of the policy issues President Nicolas Sarkozy will be judged upon in the 2012 elections is the programme he launched in 2009 to combat youth unemployment, and notably the rising numbers of youngsters who are dropping out of the system, unqualified and permanently unemployed. Two years after the president presented his government's ambitious ‘Acting for youth' plan, 20% of 18-25 year-olds in France live below the poverty line, representing half of the country's poor, and 22% of 15-25 year-olds are unemployed. Noémie Rousseau has been hearing the experiences of those at the frontline reinsertion centres, and their accounts paint a grim picture.
French feminists stake their claim in the presidential debate
Forty-five feminist groups organised a meeting to which candidates in the French presidential elections were invited to explain their plans for advancing the cause of equality for women. For when it comes to equal wages for equal work, fighting sexism and violence against women and promoting contraception, women’s access to positions of power and responsibility, parity in the political arena or on company boards, or the question of Muslim women wearing the veil, the commitments vary across the French political spectrum. Sophie Courval reports.
- Industrial and economic issues:
French ArcelorMittal workers' steely determination to block plant closure
Just weeks before the first round of the French presidential elections, growing anger over the uncertain fate of one of the last major steel-making plants in France has returned the issues of de-industrialization, globalization and the social responsibility of corporations to the fore of the political agenda. Mathieu Magnaudeix reports.
'Buy French', a questionable panacea for industrial woes
'Buy French' and 'Made in France' have become the new catchphrases for candidates in the French presidential election, amid claims that economic or industrial patriotism is the way to revive French industry and reverse a de-localisation of businesses and jobs abroad. But similar campaigns have been tried before to no noticeable effect, and economists argue they are simply out of phase with a globalised economy. Mathieu Magnaudeix reports.
The story of Cheylard, another French town felled by the crisis
The small town of Le Cheylard, in the Ardèche region of south-east France, has for decades enjoyed an unusual level of prosperity, essentially through the national and international success of two local companies, one a textile firm the other a jewellery-maker. But now Le Cheylard is facing sudden social death after the companies, weakened by market changes, international competition and the economic crisis, announce job cuts, shorter working weeks and the threat of delocalisation to the Far East. Rachida el Azzouzi reports from a town that is a mirror image of the dramatic industrial transformations wrecking small communities across France.
Economic policy - between austerity and a Rocky Horror Show...
French Prime Minister François Fillon last year announced a series of new austerity measures to produce a further 12 billion euros in savings for the government in 2011 and 2012. This follows a downgrading in the forecast for economic growth for both years. The measures include a new reduction in the benefits afforded by a variety of tax breaks and a temporary 3% tax on those with massive incomes. But, argues Laurent Mauduit, the overall package is just another sign of the government's incoherent and crazy economic policy. And one which he says risks tipping France back into recession.
WTO chief Lamy slams French protectionist 'diversion'
Almost all the candidates in the French presidential election campaign, from the Far Right to the Radical Left, are championing protectionism, a rare issue on which there is such broad agreement. But it doesn’t impress World Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy who, in this interview with Philippe Riès, dismisses the protectionist vogue as one based on false premises and which only serves to divert attention from the primary issue of French competitiveness.
The spiral of speculation and austerity spinning France towards 5 million unemployed
Official French unemployment figures released last November revealed the total number of jobless of all categories had reached 4.8 million for the first time since 1999. Mediapart co-founder Laurent Mauduit argues here that this sad state of affairs is the result of economic policies that feed speculation rather than fight it, part of a vicious circle that sees a multiplication of austerity measures that are strangling the economy, worsening rather than improving public deficits, and which have already created an exceptional level of social misery.
- The scandals:
Judge links L'Oréal heiress cash withdrawals to Sarkozy campaign funding
A major criminal investigation into the affairs of L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, and notably the suspected illegal funding of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign, has established that at least 800,000 euros were withdrawn from her secret Swiss bank accounts when Sarkozy was running for the presidency. Last week Bettencourt’s long-serving wealth manager, Patrice de Maistre, was imprisoned after being placed under formal investigation for financial corruption and for abusing the mental frailty of the L’Oréal heiress, now aged 89. The move followed the placing under investigation, in February, of Eric Woerth, former budget minister and Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign treasurer, in connection with the suspected scam. Fabrice Arfi reports.
Kuwaiti sheik's Swiss account reveals key cash clue to 'Karachi Affair'
A Paris judge investigating the suspected illegal financing of former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur’s presidential election campaign has uncovered new and compelling evidence that he received a significant sum of cash siphoned off from a weapons deal with Saudi Arabia, Mediapart can reveal. The discovery, a major development in what has become known as 'the Karachi Affair', centres on cash withdrawn from a Swiss bank account belonging to a member of Kuwait’s ruling Al-Sabah family, Sheik Ibrahim Al-Duaij Al-Sabah. Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report.
Mystery deepens over financing of Sarkozy's luxury apartment
President Nicolas Sarkozy is under increasing pressure to explain how he financed his purchase of a luxurious apartment on an islet on the River Seine after information obtained by Mediapart now irrefutably confirms he did not, contrary to his claims, receive a loan worth 475,000 euros for the acquisition from the French parliament’s financial services. The revelation, provided by the French parliament’s financial and administrative commission, raises several crucial questions that the French president must now answer: why has he wrongly maintained since 2007 that he received 475,000 euros in a loan from the National Assembly? How did he raise the 282,000 euros unaccounted for in the acts of the property purchase, and from whom? Or did the property development company which sold him the apartment, and which benefitted from lucrative deals with the local town hall of which Sarkozy was then mayor and MP, offer the sum? Mathilde Mathieu and Michaël Hajdenberg report.
Sarkozy campaign treasurer under investigation for illegal funding, influence peddling
President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign treasurer, former budget and labour minister Eric Woerth, was in February placed under formal investigation for “handling" illlegal cash funding and for “influence peddling” by magistrates in charge of a major criminal enquiry into the affairs of L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. Woerth , a close ally of the French president, is suspected of receiving at least 150,000 euros in a cash payment from Bettencourt to help fund Sarkozy’s successful bid for the presidency in 2007.
Exclusive: secret report describes Gaddafi funding of Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign
According to information contained in a confidential report prepared by a recognised French expert on terrorism and terrorist financing, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign received up to 50 million euros in secret funds from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report.
The arms dealer, the French presidency and the dirty truth
Beginning last July, a series of Mediapart investigations revealed the very close and longstanding links between Franco-Lebanese arms dealer Ziad Takieddine and the inner circle of advisors and aides surrounding Nicolas Sarkozy - before and after he became French president. Takieddine is a key witness in an ongoing French judicial probe into suspected illegal party financing via commissions paid in a major French weapons sale. In a brief interview with Mediapart, Takieddine declared: "I'm a clean man and you're dirty. You're one of the filthy who are most productive in the muck." Here, Mediapart Editor-in-Chief Edwy Plenel sets out the key issues exposed by the investigations, and argues why an unprecedented chain of high-level corruption is strangling France's institutions.
French court to investigate IMF chief Lagarde over 'misappropriation of public funds'
A French court is investigating International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde's suspected 'aiding and abetting falsification' and 'misappropriation of public funds' in her handling of a huge compensation payout awarded to controversial French businessman Bernard Tapie while she was French finance minister. Michel Deléan reports.
- The campaign:
Why Nicolas Sarkozy will lose the presidential election
Everything is now set in place for Nicolas Sarkozy to lose the 2012 presidential elections, argues Mediapart editor François Bonnet, who says his performance on French television in March confirmed the picture presented since the president finally announced his re-election bid in early February. Just like outgoing French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1981, he will fail to be re-elected, and essentially for two reasons.
French presidential elections: how they work, who's running
After months of campaigning and thundering rhetoric, the French presidential elections finally get underway with the first round of voting on April 22nd in what is a two-round poll. The two candidates who emerge with the highest scores from the first round will go on to a final play-off in the second round held two weeks later, on May 6th. The result of the approaching first round is far from decided in advance, while the stakes, amid a severe economic crisis, have never been greater. This simple guide explains how the presidential election system works, who the candidates are, the issues of debate and the factors at play for the outcome of the voting on Sunday.
French interior minister's 'superior civilization' speech sparks major political clash
A speech by French interior minister Claude Guéant in which he claimed, in an obvious comparison between the Western and Arab worlds, that some civilizations “seem to us superior” has produced a major political storm in February and a controversy centred on a fiery response to his remarks from opposition MP Serge Letchimy
Cautious Hollande unveils 'serious' election manifesto
Four days after delivering a rousing performance of lofty rhetoric in a keynote speech to supporters at Le Bourget on January 22nd, Socialist Party presidential candidate François Hollande finally presented his policy programme. At a sobre press conference, the election frontrunner appeared more concerned about demonstrating his economic competence than with “battling the world of finance”, the promise he made to the cheering party faithful last weekend. Lénaïg Bredoux and Stéphane Alliès report.
The diary of an undercover journalist inside France's far-right Front National
Journalist Claire Checcaglini spent eight months undercover as an activist in the French far-right Front National party, whose leader Marine Le Pen is tipped by pollsters as third-ranking candidate in the presidential election first round. Checcaglini rose through the party ranks as a militant, engaged in canvassing, branch discussions and party meetings, and socializing with fellow members. She recounts her experiences in a book, Bienvenue au Front – Journal d'une infiltrée, (‘Welcome to the Front – An infiltrator’s diary’) which went on sale in France on February 27th, extracts of which are published here by Mediapart.
The mysterious role of François Hollande's would-be First Lady
Socialist Party candidate François Hollande is the frontrunner in what most observers predict will be a two-horse race, alongside incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, for the presidency. Hollande’s companion, French journalist Valérie Trierweiler, little-known to the public, has played a low-profile in the elections, while continuing her professional activities. Yet she has her own personal office at Hollande’s campaign HQ. Mathilde Mathieu and Michaël Hajdenberg attempted, not without difficulty, to find out more about the true role of she who would be France’s next First Lady.
François Hollande and his balancing act for the French presidency
Three months before the first round of the French presidential elections, Socialist Party candidate François Hollande continued to baffle observers and rivals alike. In the wings for over a year, Hollande had pulled off a tour de force by imposing his strategic slow tempo on the political debate, displaying a singular virtuosity in the art of fuzziness. Stéphane Alliès reports.
French Greens seek insurance against French presidential flop
Campaign managers for Eva Joly, the Green candidate running for the Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) party in the French presidential elections, hit on a novel idea to avoid potentially disastrous financial losses if she fails to score 5% of the vote. Mathilde Mathieu and Michaël Hajdenberg report.
The facts of the pact that panics the French nuclear lobby
After tortuous negotiations late last year, France's Greens finally ratified an electoral pact with the Socialist Party which centred on a steep reduction in nuclear power production and the development of renewable energy sources. The agreement, which triggered alarm bells in the French nuclear industry, sealed an alliance between both parties for the legislative elections that will immediately follow the presidential poll. Jade Lindgaard examines the facts and figures behind the programme to reduce nuclear energy production, and reports on the last-minute political high drama that came close to leaving it stillborn.
French elections in images: Hollande ends first-round campaign in Mitterrand's steps
French elections in images: hoarse Hollande targets first round turnout
French elections in images: Sarkozy's last stand, where the guillotine once stood
French elections in images: Hollande rides to the deprived suburbs to rally abstentionists
French elections in images: far-right candidate Le Pen hounded by an opposite 'front'
French elections in images: firebrand Mélenchon calls for 'civic insurrection'
French elections in images: Sarkozy rallies the faithful in Villepinte
French elections in images: Sarkozy's last stand, where the guillotine once stood
The above is a selection of articles from Mediapart's extensive coverage of election issues, and more are available by clicking on the 'All articles' button at the bottom of Mediapart English homepage, then referring to page numbers, which rewind in chronological order at the base of the following page. You can also type in key search words in the search tool, entitled 'rechercher', found at top of each page.