French Cuisine

Campaigning must end at midnight tonight

I don’t want to be a king

"When de Gaulle set up the Fifth Republic, he created a presidency that was very like a monarchy. And since then all presidents, of left and right, have been happy to go along with that.

"But then along came Sarkozy who said, 'I don't want to be a king - I want to be a politician. I want to be like a football coach.' And the people really resent him for it."

From the moment he took office in 2007, no French president in modern times has been the object of such blatant dislike.

"There is an irrational hatred of Nicolas Sarkozy among much of the public, and it is playing a major part in this election," says Jean-Sebastien Ferjou who edits the news website Atlantico.

"I say 'irrational' because that is what it is. Polls show that if you ask people about this or that policy of Sarkozy's - but don't mention his name - they will tend to support it.”          Entire Article