The end of Sarkozy

THE political destruction of Nicolas Sarkozy would seem to signal an important shift in French center-right politics, a shift which next year will stop the neo-fascist Marine Le Pen from winning the French presidency. But Sarkozy’s defeat and elimination in the first round of his party’s selection for its presidential candidate may not be all it seems. The victor, Francois Fillon, long considered a complete outsider, does indeed seem a more popular candidate than the austere and unappealing Alain Juppe. Both these former prime ministers will now battle it out until this Sunday’s final vote. However, there is reason to doubt that this is a clear signal that the center-right is regaining the moral ascendency that Sarkozy frittered away in and outside the Elysee palace. It appears that many who are not normally center-right supporters, registered for Sunday’s primary simply in order to vote against Sarkozy. This means that when it comes to the presidential election proper in April and May next year, they may not be turning out to support the center-right Republican party candidate but will vote as usual with the socialists or far-left parties. This could hand the presidency to the National Front’s Le Pen. However, by the same token, these outside voters who helped block Sarkozy’s route back to power, may hold their noses and vote for the Republican party candidate, knowing that the socialists have no chance whatsoever of victory and therefore everything must be done to stop Le Pen. In any event, the defeat of Sarkozy rids French politics of a devious and divisive figure who has caused much damage both to the French political establishment and France’s wider reputation in the world. “Sarko’s” readiness to try and steal votes from the National Front by turning to Islamophobic policies such as his banning of the head scarf in schools and his uncompromising attitude to his country’s angry and alienated Muslim young people did him no credit. The accusations that he was involved in large scale illegal campaign funding refused to go away. Court cases and investigations have come close to him but so far only aides have carried the can. But the taint of corruption and dishonesty clearly threatened to cause his 2017 run at the presidency to unravel. But these charges have become a whole lot more serious since a Lebanese go-between said that he had brought suitcases with millions of dollars in cash from Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi for Sarkozy’s 2007 bid for the presidency. If true this claim casts a deeply disconcerting light on the 2011 slaying of the Libyan dictator. Gaddafi was seeking to flee Sirte. His 50-vehicle convoy was attacked and destroyed by French jets. He hid in a culvert where he was discovered by rebels and brutally murdered. There are those who believe that Sarkozy wanted to be sure Gaddafi was dead rather than facing trial at the International Criminal Court, where he might have blurted out all the secret deals he had cut with European politicians including Sarkozy, the UK’s Tony Blair and Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi. Such allegations, even if baseless, would have grounded Sarkozy’s presidential bid, because they would have underlined the man’s essential untrustworthiness. France did not need another dose of Sarkozy leadership, any more than it needs a racist bigot like Marine Le Pen.