France General Discussion

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So is Sarkozy likely to seek re-election?

Yes. Rumours of him retiring are bullsh**t. Sarkozy, like all French politicians, are egomaniacs who only fully retire once they die.

And I take it no one will seriously challenge him for the party's nomination, right?

Unless if you count Villepin as a inter-party challenge, no. The UMP itself is controlled by Sarkozy and his allies. But, as Fab says, there could be a centre-right candidate in Morin or Borloo; but it is well known that Sarkozy is a big supporter of a united right and wants only one candidate.

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You really care about all this "remaniement" bullsh*t ?

No matter you want it or not it has some consequences, even if that doesn't mean the policy of the govt would change. Politician consequences, not political ones.

Oh sure, Borloo is pissed off and Fillon is happy because he will be able to be irrelevant for two more years. But I still don't know why anyone should care besides the ministers/former ministers/could-have-been ministers themselves.

The important things lay beyond the actual new guys and old guys coming in and out.

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I'd much prefer if Harper was a not so-incompetent slightly insane/erratic and somewhat corrupt figure similar to Sarkozy; instead of the dangerous hard-right ideologue incompetent failure he is.

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First Royal, then hopefully Palin. 1 down, 1 to go.

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ftr, Marine is strong with rank-and-file party members and the general electorate (where she has cultivated herself an electoral base in Henin, like her father did in PACA) while Gollnisch was strong with the older far-right sects and various neo-Nazi/fascist groupings which include a lot of the FN's early members (he also had support from the various FN splits, including Carl Lang's joke outfit and the remaining 5 members of the MNR). Thus we'll be seeing a lot/have seen a lot of older members leave like Holeindre (a resistant and FN founder).

Hopefully people don't interpret the departures of FN founders as a sign that she's a weak leader, because far-right splitoffs from the FN always do very poorly. Just look at Carl Lang or Jacques Bompard, both of which were, according to the media, going to kill the party by their strong electoral results.