Sarkozy in the Lead with French Women
Several polls released at the end of last week show Nicolas Sarkozy French presidential candidate from the rightwing Union for a Popular Movement (French abbreviation UMP) and former French Interior Minister, pulling ahead of his competitors. Analysts attribute this to the support of the female electorate. Yesterday, exactly twp weeks before the presidential elections in France, Journal du Dimanche newspaper published survey results that show Sarkozy has 30 percent support for the first round, versus nearest competitor Socialist Segolene Royal's 22-percent showing. In the second round, which would be unavoidable under those conditions, he would receive 54 percent of the vote to Royal's 46 percent.
The surge in support of Sarkozy has come only in the last three or four days, after Sarkozy received a standing ovation at a forum organized by the women's magazine Elle on Thursday. Sarkozy promised to give half the positions in his administration to women, make men's and women's salaries equal and make company's open up children's rooms.
Women make up more than half the French electorate, at just over 44.5 million. Analysts had said that they were supporting Royal, a mother of four. Royal was also a guest at the Elle forum. She said that “The woman's time has come” and promised to make family violence a priority. French First Lady Bernadette Chirac gave her endorsement to Sarkozy as they toured France's second city, Lyon, together on Thursday.
Sarkozy was forced to cancel an appearance in one of the working-class suburbs of Lyon the same day due to a delayed flight. There were suspicions, however, that he had missed the meeting to avoid facing demonstrates staged by his opponents. Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the ultra-rightist National Front, ranked fourth in the presidential race with 14-percent support, unexpectedly appeared in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil, where he told his immigrant audience that they wanted to help them escape from the ghetto. He received a mid reception.
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All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 09, 2007
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