The anti-Sarkozy vote
FAR from the giant rallies and big-screen showmanship of the final days of a presidential campaign, the sleepy town of Donzy in Burgundy feels untouched by politics. The talk in the bars is of the local fête and fishing. Only one campaign poster, for a fringe anti-capitalist, has been pasted to the municipal noticeboard. Yet this bellwether town is a pointer to how the French will vote in the election on April 22nd and May 6th: at every poll since 1981, it has gone for the winner.
In 1981 Donzy backed François Mitterrand, a Socialist. In 2007 it swung behind Nicolas Sarkozy, on the Gaullist right. This time the little town, encircled by wheat fields and home to factories making plastic straws and umbrellas, looks likely to back François Hollande, the Socialist. “My bet is that Donzy will vote Hollande,” says Jean-Paul Jacob, the (independent) centre-right mayor. This is not out of enthusiasm for the man, as “people find him cold, there’s no fervour about him.” Rather, the mayor thinks, it reflects disappointment with Mr Sarkozy. “His personality”, he says wryly, “doesn’t leave people indifferent.”
Other locals concur. Cécile Rebeillard, a retired statistician, reckons the mood is “more a rejection of Sarkozy” than zeal for Mr Hollande. “I think Sarkozy will be beaten,” agrees Thierry Flandin, a farmer and (independent) councillor for Donzy and nearby communes. “Not because of his policies, but his attitude. People here were shocked by his behaviour, his vulgarity, all the mistakes early on in his term. It’s a rejection of the man.”
http://www.economist.com/node/21553026?fsrc=scn/tw/te/ar/theantisarkozyvote
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http://www.france24.com/en/20120420-french-election-president-nicolas-sarkozy-hollande-bling-bling-politics?
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