French Election by Vincent David

On the 22nd of April, France will hold the first round presidential elections and the second round two weeks later. This election will be a turning point in French political history, first of all because Jacques Chirac will leave the place after 12 years of presidency and forty years of leadership on French politic (twice Prime Minister in 76-78 and 86-88, and many times Minister). French are highly focused to this election for many reasons, and I will now underline three of these. First, the last election was a deep trauma in French minds with the election at the second round of Jean Marie Le Pen, leader of the extreme right, and famous in the country for his racial approach to politics. Le Pen is still a candidate and high in the polls. Secondly, this election is also a turning point due to the fact that the second party of France, the socialist party, will be represented by a woman, Segolene Royal, which can be elected (yet today she's only at 45% in the polls at the second round). Finally, another key fact of this election is the personality of the actual leader in the polls, Nicolas Sarkozy, leader of the first party of France, the UMP. He wants to break with the old French politics, he uses radical sentences and he desires liberalise the country with a mediation never seen before.

Vincent David is Graduate in Political Science from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Grenoble.