Word: bayrou
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Centrist François Bayrou has emerged as if from nowhere to become a real contender in the French presidential elections, upending the classic right-left battle between frontrunners Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal. No one is quite sure what he'll do if he wins, but that hasn't dimmed his appeal, at least not yet. He spoke to TIME's James Graff during a campaign stint in Normandy...
...Bayrou: Clearly there's a very strong movement of opinion in France. Millions of people want out of the perpetual confrontation between the PS [Socialist Party] and the UMP [Union for a Popular Movement] - between the left and the right. For the last 25 years, there hasn't been a single [parliamentary] election in which the incumbent majority has been confirmed in power. People now want a way to change without destroying, but by constructing...
...Bayrou: Elite is a big word. If we're talking about the true elite, then I'm with them. But in France for a long time there's been an absence of real democracy. The institutions are locked up, and French people of the middle and lower classes really resent...
...Bayrou: A big role, in my opinion. I have an atypical career. I come from far away, from the Pyrenees, from a social class of peasants and workers that usually doesn't have access to power. But I do know Paris politics very well, and it's because I know it that I can criticize it and contradict...
There is one glaring difference Bayrou would quite like to downplay: even if he becomes President, his party is unlikely to secure a majority in the next Parliament, which will emerge at elections in June. His opponents predict Italian-style political confusion. Bayrou simply says he'll address that problem if and when it happens. Meanwhile, he's set about showing the snobs who looked down on him just who has the measure of the French electorate. "Millions of people in France feel the same look from those on top," he says. "They need to know that the people giving...