France: Sarkozy's presidential candidacy (pub. Jan. 22, 2007)
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It was formally announced on Jan. 14, 2007, that Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior and Regional Development Minister and leader of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), would be the UMP candidate in presidential elections in France in April and May. The announcement was made at a UMP rally, which was attended by tens of thousands of party supporters and held in a conference centre on the outskirts of Paris following Sarkozy’s unopposed election by party members.
Immediate Context
When Sarkozy was elected as leader of the centre-right UMP in November 2004 it was widely regarded as the start of his bid to win the presidential candidacy in 2007. Sarkozy’s prospects of winning the candidacy were boosted in December 2005, when he secured the agreement of the UMP political bureau for a change of rules allowing members of the party to choose their preferred candidate (previously, party leaders had selected the UMP presidential candidate). Sarkozy formally launched his campaign for the UMP presidential candidacy in September 2006, promising to reduce unemployment and to make France more competitive in international trade, whilst condemning the "virulence" of anti-Americanism in France. In his role as Interior Minister, a post to which he was appointed in June 2005, Sarkozy developed a reputation as a hardline politician and he frequently made controversial comments which angered the Muslim community in France. In November 2005, he announced that non-French nationals who had participated in rioting (mainly by young Muslims of north or sub-Saharan African descent) across the country in October-November, 2006, should be expelled from France. In April 2003, Sarkozy told a congress of the Islamic Organisations of France (UOIF) that Muslim women should remove veils and headscarves when being photographed for official identity documents.
Reaction and outlook
Uniting the conservative right--including senior politicians such as President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, neither of whom had publicly supported the candidacy of their former Interior Minister--was deemed by many analysts as one of the greatest challenges of Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign. The opposition Socialist Party (PS) candidate Ségolène Royal, who was attempting to become the first woman in history to win a presidential election in France, was regarded as Sarkozy’s main rival in the presidential contest. Chirac was not expected to run for a third consecutive term in office but the President had not formally ruled out the possibility of running as an independent candidate. During the UMP rally on Jan. 14, 2007, Sarkozy told his supporters that he must "unite" the French people, and "convince them that together, everything will be possible", adding that he "did not have the right to fail".
Historical context
A candidate was required to secure more than 50 per cent of the vote to win the presidential election in the first round, but this outcome was rare in France, meaning that the holding of a second round of voting was a common feature in the country’s presidential elections. The presidential term was reduced from seven years to five in a national referendum held in September 2000. Chirac first came to power as President and head of state after winning the 1995 presidential election. In the 2002 presidential election, Chirac was re-elected for a second consecutive term in office after registering an overwhelming victory in the second round against Jean-Marie Le Pen of the far-right National Front (FN), who had unexpectedly taken second place in the first round . The 2002 presidential election was the eighth to be held under the Fifth French Republic, the constitution of which had been overwhelmingly endorsed by voters in a national referendum held in September 1958. Months later, in December 1958, an electoral college overwhelmingly elected Gen. Charles de Gaulle, the principal mastermind of the Fifth Republic, as President. De Gaulle, who held the presidency until his resignation in April 1969, had an enduring influence on French politics even after his death in November 1970.
Timeline links
- September 2006 Interior and Regional Development Minister Nicolas Sarkozy launches his campaign for the candidacy of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in the 2007 presidential elections.
- August 2006 Sarkozy is accused by immigrant support groups of evicting squatters, most of them African or other immigrants, from a run-down former student hall of residence in Paris to promote his aim to be elected President in 2007.
- June 2006 Sarkozy partially relaxes deportations of illegal immigrants by granting an amnesty to some 800 families with children who had been born and were being educated in France and who spoke French.
- April 2006 Relations between Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Sarkozy deteriorate amidst allegations that de Villepin had sought to implicate Sarkozy in the Clearstream corruption scandal.
- January 2006 The opposition accuses Sarkozy of "stupefying silence" after youths from disadvantaged areas of Marseilles and Avignon had rampaged through a Riviera train, robbing and sexually assaulting passengers at knifepoint.
- December 2005 Sarkozy secures the agreement of the UMP political bureau for a change in party rules under which the official UMP candidate for the 2007 presidential elections would be chosen in a "primary" election by party members.
- November 2005 Sarkozy announces that non-French nationals convicted of rioting during disturbances across France, by mainly Muslim members of ethnic minority communities, should be expelled from France.
- June 2005 Sarkozy is appointed by President Jacques Chirac as Minister of State and Minister of the Interior and Regional Development.
- November 2004 Sarkozy’s election as chairman of the UMP is regarded as the start of his bid for the UMP presidential candidacy in 2007; Sarkozy vacates his Cabinet positions as Minister of State and Minister of Economy, Finance, and Industry.
- October 2004 In his recently published book, Sarkozy proposes that the1905 law establishing France as a secular state should be amended to help integrate the country’s Muslim community.
- September 2004 Sarkozy launches his campaign to be elected chairman of the UMP and obtains the support of President Jacques Chirac after agreeing to vacate his ministerial post if elected.
- June 2004 The UMP’s defeat in elections to the European Parliament (EP) intensifies strains between President Chirac and Sarkozy over the latter’s undisguised ambition to succeed Chirac in 2007.
- March 2004 Sarkozy is appointed as Minister of State and Minister of Economy, Finance, and Industry.
- February 2004 The conviction in January of Prime Minister Alain Juppé for corruption is regarded as a boost to Sarkozy’s prospects of succeeding President Chirac in 2007.
- November 2003 Sarkozy declares his support for new legislation banning the wearing of Islamic headscarves and other "overt" religious symbols in state schools.
- June 2003 Sarkozy is forced to flee from a rally in Upper Corsica, after being jostled by demonstrators protesting against the government’s decentralisation plan and pension reforms.
- April 2003 Sarkozy tells an Islamic Organisations of France (UOIF) congress that Muslim women must remove veils and headscarves when being photographed for official identity documents.
- March 2003 Sarkozy says he will be firm in expelling recent illegal immigrants from France, but would be accommodating to those who had lived in France for some years provided they had committed no crime.
- October 2002 Sarkozy visits Corsica for the formal launching of the government's plan for a major decentralisation of power from Paris.
- June 2002 Sarkozy assumes the post of Deputy Prime Minister in addition to the Minister of Interior, Internal Security, and Local Liberties portfolio.
- May 2002 Chirac comfortably wins re-election in the second round of presidential elections.
- April 2002 Jean-Marie Le Pen of the far-right National Front (FN) takes second place behind Chirac in the first round of presidential elections.
- September 2000 In a national referendum the presidential term is reduced from seven years to five.
- June 1999 In the wake of a dismal performance in elections to the European Parliament (EP), Sarkozy resigns as interim president of the neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR).
- April 1999 Sarkozy is confirmed as interim RPR president and takes over the leadership of the RPR list of candidates for the elections to the European Parliament.
- March 1997 Jean-Marie Le Pen is re-elected unopposed as leader the far-right National Front (FN).
- May 1995 Jacques Chirac wins a seven-year term in office during a presidential election.
- January 1995 Prime Minister Edouard Balladur appoints Sarkozy as his spokesperson after announcing his candidacy for presidential elections in April and May.
- July 1994 Sarkozy temporarily assumes the responsibilities of Communications Minister in addition to his post as Budget Minister.
- March 1993 Sarkozy is appointed as Budget Minister and government spokesperson.
- November 1970 Gen. de Gaulle dies suddenly from a heart attack.
- April 1969 President de Gaulle resigns after a national referendum rejects his attempts to introduce major constitutional reforms.
- December 1958 Gen. Charles de Gaulle is elected as President by an electoral college.
- September 1958 Voters overwhelmingly endorse the constitution of the Fifth Republic.
- August 1958 The government of Gen. Charles de Gaulle decides to hold a constitutional referendum.
