Sarkozy launches French presidential bid after party nomination
French interior minister and rightwing favourite Nicolas Sarkozy has launched his campaign for the presidency, as tens of thousands of supporters acclaimed him as official candidate of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement.
Results of an internal ballot, read out to mass applause at a special congress in Paris, showed that Sarkozy had 98 percent of the vote in a ballot of 338,000 party members -- though there was never any doubt about the result as he was the only person standing.
"All my life I have dreamed of being useful to France, to my country, my nation. Today you have allowed me to realise the first stage of that dream," Sarkozy said in his acceptance speech Sunday.
Polls show that the 51 year-old minister and UMP chief is the only politician who can prevent Socialist Party (PS) favourite Segolene Royal, 53, from becoming the country's first ever woman president.
However his progress has been hampered by bitter feuding inside the UMP, with President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin openly keeping alive the chance of an alternative candidate -- possibly Chirac himself seeking a third term.
Sarkozy supporters were hopeful that a corner had been turned in recent days with endorsements from several politicians normally seen as Chirac loyalists.
These include former prime minister Alain Juppe, who praised Sarkozy's "capacity for action" and defence minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who on Friday abandoned plans for an independent run for the presidency.
Chirac did not attend the congress but a tense-looking Villepin made a brief appearance during the morning. Fearful that his rival might be booed by some in the crowd, Sarkozy issued an appeal for Villepin to be given a "triumphant welcome" because "the French people are watching us."
Some 78,000 supporters -- many brought by special coach and train from around France -- crammed into the exhibition centre on the Paris ring-road for a days of fanfare and speeches, with senior party figures delivering tributes to Sarkozy and bitter attacks on Royal.
"He's direct, plain-speaking and he knows we have to change our way of life here in France. I like him because he is for law-and-order and a multi-coloured France," said Leonard Sinbandhit of the Union of French Asians.
The candidate planned to move swiftly after the party's designation, moving Monday into campaign headquarters in central Paris and then leaving for Normandy on the first of regular twice-weekly speaking engagements in the provinces. An Internet campaign site -- www.sarkozy.fr -- was also to be launched.
The first round of France's presidential election takes place on Sunday April 22, with a second round two weeks later between the two front-runners if -- as is almost certain -- no candidate gets an overall majority.
An opinion poll in the weekly newspaper Journal du Dimanche showed that 75 percent of French people think Sarkozy can attract the support of voters from across the entire right-wing spectrum, and 59 percent thought he has the stature of a head of state.
However more than half those polled -- 51 percent -- also said that Sarkozy "worried" them.
The interior minister's designation as candidate coincided with a difficult moment for his Socialist rival. On Friday Royal had to disavow a pledge from the PS chief -- and her own partner -- Francois Hollande to introduce tax-rises for the well-off.
AFP
