The plot against Sarko

What is Jacques Chirac playing at ? The question is topic number one among the ranks of the Union for a Popular Majority (UMP) the party that was cobbled together out of the French president's RPR Gaullist movement and smaller groups in 2002.

For the past two years, the UMP has rallied around its new leader and dynamic presidential contender, Nicolas Sarkozy, 51. But now that Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate, has been triumphantly anointed by her party and elevated to saint-like status by the media, Chirac is busy trying to derail Sarkozy and his own party's chances in next April's elections.

In the Florentine world of Paris politics, the suggestion is that Chirac would prefer to see his side lose next year than be succeeded in office by "the traitor" as he used to call Sarkozy.  The president seems to be doing everything to feed the conspiracy theory.

Chirac's deep distaste for the abrasive, furiously ambitious Interior Minister is ancient history. It began in late 1994 when Sarko betrayed his former mentor by backing Edouard Balladur, then Prime Minister, and Gaullist favourite for the 1995 presidency. Chirac, the Gaullist chief, beat Balladur and never forgave Sarkozy although he made him Interior Minister.

Chirac, who is 74 next week, has just put out word that he might stand for re-election and he will make no announcement either way until well into the new year. Polls show that under five percent of the public want the old man to stay on at the Elysée. Bernadette Chirac, who wants her husband to add five more years to the 12 he will have already served, said last week that a third term was on the cards:  "The game is far from over," she said.

At the same time, Chirac has encouraged two protégés -- Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, and Michèle Alliot-Marie, Defence Minister, to challenge Sarkozy's right to be the party's presidential candidate. Both Villepin and Alliot-Marie [pictured above with Chirac] are thinking of the job for themselves although they are unpopular and do not have the slightest chance of election. The aristocratic de Villepin, 52, an appointee who has never been elected to anything, is offering a good example of le volontarisme (see glossary post), or setting sights on an impossible goal. 

The pair are backed by a handful of anti-Sarkozy parliamentarians who dislike the leader and his conversion of the party into a personal campaign machine. They say they are worried about the way that Sarkozy's muscular style puts up the backs of voters, especially the young. Both de Villepin and Alliot-Marie know that they cannot stop Sarkozy's election as candidate in January, but by sniping at him, they are sapping his campaign to beat Royal.

Claude Goasguen, a Paris parliamentarian, yesterday voiced the anger of the majority against the dissident duo: "When we have a candidate who has it in him to win the election, it is unacceptable for a minority in the party to have fun helping him lose."

Sarkozy has given some ground over the past couple of days, but he is now calling the bluff of  Villepin and Alliot-Marie, telling them either to declare their candidacies or shut up. He is expected to make a formal announcement of his own candidacy possibly as early as tonight. 

This is not Chirac's first attempt to play against his own side in a presidential campaign. He did something similar back in 1981. Valery Giscard d'Estaing, a centre-right ally of the Gaullists, was standing for re-election against Francois Mitterrand of the Socialists. Chirac had served as Giscard's Prime Minister but fallen out with him. Though officially backing the president, Chirac had his Gaullist troops campaign secretly against him, opening the way to Mitterrand's narrow victory.

Giscard has just published memoires in which he lays out the story of Chirac's betrayal. The funniest moment was when the president telephoned Gaullist party headquarters pretending to be a party member. He asked whom, as a good Gaullist, he should vote for and the woman staffer told him "Mitterrand". 

The opinion polls show Royal drawing ahead of Sarkozy but only just. If her opponent in a notional run-off were Chirac, de Villepin or Alliot-Marie, she would win by a landslide, according to the latest polls by Ipsos, Ifop and CSA.   

Comments

[Mark Bernadiner]

Chirac is a typical french politician who betrays his party and country for personal reasons. France should be ashamed of having him president.

[rocket]

Need we say more about French politics. Need we say more about the character of Mr. Jacques Chirac

[Keith]

Chirac has been such a costly failure for France - France has gone backwards in his almost 12 years presidency - he is an absolute waste of space and should go to the grave quietly and allow a proper man like Sarkozy to take France back to her glory days. ADIEU CHIRAC!!!!

[Frank Schnittger]

I am reminded of the tale of the young politician just newly elected as a member of the British Parliament. As he was being shown around the House of Commons in Westminster he pointed to the Opposition benches and said - "ahah - there sits the enemy!" His more experienced colleague quickly corrected him. "Oh no - there sits the Opposition, the Enemy is on your own side!"

Political rivalries are nearly always more intense within parties than between them - because it is against members of your own party that you are competing for political preferment. Sometimes "leaders" will prefer to see their own side lose - rather than see a rival achieve a position which they thought was their own due.

More mature politicians and parties can of course paper over those cracks - as the Socialist party seems to have done following Sego's convincing victory. Unifying his own side may well prove a greater challenge for Sarko than running an effective campaign. Elephant's have long memories, and not all of them are within the Socialist party!

[pierre]

well chirac betrays the guy that betrayed him before, after himself having betrayed... good old politic tactics all that.

thinking that politics in france are any different from anywhere else is a joke.

[maggie]

Chirac & De Villepin are spiteful & not trustworthy , surely the French have seen enough of these two. ?
After their devious actions aka Clearstream , neither deserve a public salary & both should be booted out .

Chirac , is now an old man who cares only for the glory of France, to reflect on himself & to be his legacy, but doesn't appear to give a toss for the people of France.
If he does stand again [ too old ] & gets in [unlikely] how could he do the job physically for a another 5 years, let alone think & modernise like a younger man, in a fast changing world, which has changed irrevocably during his time in office.
I think he has been a huge disappointment & now clinging to power for all the wrong reasons, the trappings , but more importantly to keep himself immune from the trial he has dodged for so long.
More likely, he has to find a maleable successor to recue him from the dock.
Sarko would not be that man.
As for Chirac calling Sarko a traitor, well , the words pot & kettle come to mind, don't you think ?

[minette]

No idea about French Politics. Mr. Chirac to me is more like a great salesperson as he sales everything he wants to China.

[mcmorran]

Everyone in France knows that Chirac as head of the Parisian political mafia would have been put on trial and found at least as guilty of corruption as Alain JUPPE (a possible future president) , if it were not for his personally organized presidential immunity.But the French are too cynical about their politics and politicians to find this surprising or worth any sort of sanction.

[Richard Black]

This wouldn't be the first time...although I was in short trousers at the time. Former president Giscard d'Estaing claimed (and still claims in almost every interview he still gets to do) the only reason he lost the Presidency to Mitterand was that his own party rivals incited voters to support the opposition to ensure his downfall. And who was behind that little manoeuver I wonder...???

[christopher muir]

If Chirac is playing the political chess board in this vengeful manner, he deserves contempt from the French electorate. It's interesting that Bernadette, his wife, is quoted. I remember reading some time back that she has a personal dislkike for Sarko, so she could be pulling the strings to make Chirac dance to her tune for one last time. It would be better for France to turn in a new direction while protecting its wonderful way of life.

[John Hornsby]

Chirac is a bungling never-has-been, elected 'faute de mieux' after shooting himself in the foot by calling needlessly for an election during his first term of office - and losing. I don't understand why many French people find the pathetic, jerky puppet-figure 'sympathique'. Sarkozy hasn't much to fear from this lame old duck!

[Stephen Bull]

Is this the reason for Chirac's dislike of Sarkozy?

En ce temps-là, Chirac avait deux fils. Le fils rêvé, avec Juppé. Le fils adopté, avec Sarkozy : une sorte de double, très politique, moins dénué de convictions que lui mais avec autant de culot. Entre les deux, son cœur balançait.

C'est pourquoi, il a été "atteint au cœur" quand, quelques années plus tard, Nicolas Sarkozy a choisi Édouard Balladur contre lui. Pareillement pour Claude Chirac dont Nicolas Sarkozy fut longtemps l'ami intime. «Je n'ai jamais été sa maîtresse », a-t-elle dit. En tout cas, il fut son maître en politique.

[Valentin]

Chirac is no worse than every one else around him, really, any other politician.
Suffices to see how Giscard treated him after appointing him prime minister, how Sarkozy himself treats Chirac people almost worse than he does the Left.
Socialists had their own share- no later than 2005 they went close to splitting after Fabius decided to oppose the European Constitution. It's all political warfare. In the US the same happens, see just the latest one in the Democrat camp, Sen. Lieberman running against his own party, winning and becoming the leverage point in the new Senate (and being congratulated by Democrats who now need his vote on the floor).
I won't even mention the continuous struggle Blair-Brown, that now turns into ridicule what's left of the Blair reign.
It's called professional politics.

[Valentin]

Having watched the France 2 documentary on Chirac, his easy-going way with people is apparent. His problem is rather being a good candidate than a statesman, better at competing for office (and well, kinda crushing opponents any possible way) rather than at ruling.

As to corruption, youths here probably weren't around when the rèally big scandals of the Mitterand reign broke out, or else they wouldn't be so flamed up. Credit Lyonnais, Elf, Tapie and many others make a long list, with Edith Cresson closing it a bit shamefully. Now THESE were people who knew their business ! :)