Word: bayrou
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...French élite has been giving Bayrou that once-over for years, and never discerned much of a threat. They do now. Bayrou, 55, has jacked up his unlikely campaign for the French presidency into a real threat to the candidates who had until now been established front runners, conservative Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and Socialist Ségolène Royal. A recent poll put Bayrou and Royal in a dead heat for second place. If his rising trend continues, he could beat her in the first round of the elections on April...
...Giscard d'Estaing achieved a rare victory from that middle ground in 1974. Now, once again, says Bayrou, "there are millions of French people who want out of the perpetual confrontation between the left and the right." The candidate is traveling through Normandy to a rally in Evreux. When he's not out campaigning, Bayrou likes to unwind driving one of his tractors. That machine would come in handy for uprooting the nation's two largest parties, which he compares to "big trees that have become rotten inside...
That's because the French political class is woefully out of touch with the populace, says Bayrou, adding that this malaise has seen French voters turf out the incumbents in every parliamentary election of the last 25 years. He lists further symptoms. Extreme-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen reached the second round of the 2002 presidential elections and is running strong now too. Jacques Chirac, the outgoing President, found common ground with his Socialist opponents to promote the proposed European constitution, which was nevertheless voted down in a May 2005 referendum by a huge majority. Strikes and riots regularly...
Increasingly, voters wonder if Bayrou may be the key. He promotes a fresh, coherent policy on Europe, pledges to end France's chronic indebtedness, and follows his instincts above ideologies. Despite service as Education Minister in the 1990s under two conservative-led governments, Bayrou's current platform is not so wildly different from Royal's, pledging more support for schools and more environmental responsibility. His opponents mistrust such pragmatism. "The French will figure out eventually that it's better to have a real left and a real right," says André Santini, who was suspended from Bayrou's UDF last...
Some voters are recoiling from Sarkozy's attempts to make capital out of tensions over immigration. The pugnacious politician recently called for a new "ministry of immigration and national identity." "You can't make national identity a political subject," says Bayrou. "It's very dangerous to suggest that the national identity is under threat." At the rally in Evreux, Bayrou wins cheers when he declares that the best approach to immigration would be a stronger development policy for Africa and "introducing morality into international trade." This strikes a chord with social worker Christine Levasseur, who once voted for the left...