The official campaign began on 20 March, but in the wake of the
shooting at the Ozar Hatorah day school in
Toulouse the two leading candidates, Hollande and Sarkozy, suspended their campaigns. Although Jean-Luc Mélenchon argued that to continue with the campaign was "an act of moral, emotional and intellectual resistance." In some parts of the media, Sarkozy and Le Pen were also criticised for misusing the
Midi-Pyrénées shootings as campaign fodder against "radical Islam." The following is a brief overview of the campaign adapted from information in
Le Monde.
François Hollande François Hollande, the candidate of the
Socialist Party and the
Radical Party of the Left, topped the opinion polls throughout the campaign. He emphasised his promise to be a "normal" president, in contrast to Nicolas Sarkozy's sometimes controversial presidential style. He aimed to resorb France's national debt by 2017, notably by cancelling tax cuts for the wealthy and tax exemptions introduced by President Sarkozy. Income tax would be raised to 75% for incomes beyond one million euros; the retirement age would be brought back to 60 (with a full pension) for persons who have worked 42 years; 60 000 jobs cut by Nicolas Sarkozy in public education would be recreated. Homosexual couples would have the right to marry and adopt. Residents without European Union passports would be given the right to vote in local elections after five years of legal residency. On housing, he has promised to regulate rises in rent; to use punitive measures to compel towns and cities to apply the 2000
Law on Solidarity and Urban Renewal, which mandates the providing of social housing; and to provide public lands for the building of social housing. Hollande won the election, finishing first on the first balloting of ten candidates in April with 28.63% of the vote, and again finishing first on the runoff ballot between himself and Sarkozy with 51.64% against Sarkozy's 48.36%.
Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Sarkozy, the incumbent president and candidate of the
Union for a Popular Movement, was aiming for a second and last term in office. He was consistently second in opinion polls throughout the campaign, behind François Hollande. His reforms during his first term included a reform of universities, and of the retirement age; a reform enabling citizens to query the
constitutionality of laws; and a reduction in the number of public sector employees. He argued that his reforms had helped steer France through a period of economic crisis. Sarkozy's campaign pledges for his potential second term are described by
Le Monde as "anchored on the right". He has promised to reduce legal immigration by 50%; threatened to withdraw France from the
Schengen Area unless it were revised to enable stricter border controls; promised to compel beneficiaries of the
Revenu de solidarité active to accept certain jobs, in exchange for support in finding them; and opposed Hollande's proposals in favour of gay marriage and voting rights for foreign residents in local elections. He has also promised more frequent referendums, for citizens to be consulted on major issues. Sarkozy admitted during the campaign that he did not visit
Fukushima while in Japan after
the previous year's earthquake and tsunami, despite having previously said he had done so.
Marine Le Pen Marine Le Pen is the candidate of the
National Front, succeeding her father
Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was a candidate in five presidential elections. Aiming to reach the second round, as her father had done in 2002, she also attempted to provide a different image of the party, avoiding the controversial statements previously made by her father. She has advocated "national preference" for French citizens (over foreign residents) for access to jobs and social services, and a form of protectionism, as well as withdrawing from the euro and the European Union. She has advocated reducing legal immigration by 95%, abolishing the right to
family reunification, and reinstating the death penalty, abolished in 1981 by then president
François Mitterrand. She held the third place in opinion polls for much of the campaign, occasionally rising into first and second place in 2011 or dipping to fourth behind Jean-Luc Mélenchon, but remained consistently behind Hollande and Sarkozy by 2012. She finished the 2012 balloting with 17.90% of the vote tally, placing her third in the final results. Like Nathalie Arthaud, his message was that improvements in workers' rights would come through workers' struggles and demands rather than through the ballot box.
Nathalie Arthaud Nathalie Arthaud, a teacher of economics and management in a secondary school, is the candidate of
Workers' Struggle. She succeeds famous
perennial candidate Arlette Laguiller, who represented the party in six consecutive presidential elections, from
1974 to 2007. A
Trotskyist, she has described herself as the "only communist candidate" in the election. She has stated that she does not aim to be elected, describing elections as "inessential", and considering that workers will obtain new rights only through their struggles rather than through the ballot box.
Jacques Cheminade Jacques Cheminade is the candidate of his Solidarity and Progress movement, the French branch of the
LaRouche movement. Described as a "conspiracy theorist" by the press, he drew some attention with his proposals for an expanded
space programme, and stagnated slightly above 0% in the opinion polls.
Second round Since the first round there had been a drive to woo far-right voters with Sarkozy making immigration a major issue of his campaign and Hollande focusing on the euro-zone crisis and the state of the economy. Sarkozy's move to the right in embracing National Front themes such as stricter immigration has drawn criticism from prominent figures from his own party such as former Prime Ministers
Dominique de Villepin,
Jean-Pierre Raffarin,
Alain Juppé and Senators
Chantal Jouanno and
Jean-René Lecerf. There was more criticism of the German-led austerity measures by Hollande, while he also responded to Sarkozy's words at a rally in Toulouse saying that "without borders there is no nation, there is no Republic, there is no civilisation. We are not superior to others but we are different." In turn Hollande told a bigger rally in Paris that "I want victory, but not at any price, not at the price of caricature and lies. I want to win over the men and women who are angry, a hundred times yes, but compromise myself? A thousand times no." Sarkozy reiterated threats to withdraw from the
Schengen Agreement if there was no tightening of border controls. He also said that there would be a presumption of self-defense when police are involved in the killing of suspects and criticised the EU's lack of mention of Europe's Christian roots in its constitution. Many of the issues were similar to that of the National Front, from which Sarkozy's UMP gained votes between the
2002 and
2007 election. He further spoke "to those French who stay home, don't complain when Francois Hollande is elected and regularizes all illegal immigrants and lets foreigners vote." Le Pen stated she would submit a
blank ballot in the run-off, calling on her supporters to make their own choices. Bayrou announced on 3 May that he would vote for Hollande. German Chancellor
Angela Merkel also said she saw nothing "normal" in Hollande, despite his attempts to portray himself as such; instead she supported Sarkozy's campaign. Campaigning officially ended on 4 May. In the last
government bond sale before the election, the previously rising yields fell slightly, while the amount sold was marginally lower than expected. ;International effect The campaign has led to a "certain degree of gridlock in EU's corridors of power". It's unclear who will be the head of the
Euro Group, who will join the Executive Board of the
European Central Bank (ECB) and who will lead the
European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
Endorsements In the days before the election, editorials in the main newspapers expressed opinions about the two candidates.
Le Monde did not explicitly support one or the other, but wrote that Hollande "has confirmed, between the two rounds, his consistency, albeit without addressing the vagueness of some of his own proposals", while Sarkozy "has demonstrated his inconsistency, first running after the National Front, crossing the red line which had been set at the turn of the 1980s, and respected since then in the ranks of the republican right, before moving back towards the centre to avoid a breakdown with his own side".
Libération supported Hollande:
Le Figaro published an editorial in support of Sarkozy. Of the candidates who went out in the first round, Bayrou, Joly and Cheminade all explicitly declared their support for Hollande in the second round, while Mélenchon and Poutou implicitly endorsed a vote for Hollande by urging their supporters to vote against Sarkozy. Dupont-Aignan backed Sarkozy, while Le Pen and Arthaud declined to support either candidate.
Debates There was one televised debate between Hollande and Sarkozy, although Sarkozy said he would prefer three, an idea Hollande rejected. This took place on 2 May. Hollande accused Sarkozy of dividing the French and failing to lower unemployment. Hollande promised to be a president for social justice, economic recovery and national unity. Sarkozy was said to have told Hollande that his lack of experience in national government made him unfit for the task of leading the world's fifth-largest economy in a crisis. ==Opinion polls==