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Sarkozy the unwanted

By Andrew Borowiec
May 12, 2008

Michaelle Jean, governor general of Canada, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy visit the Canadian military cemetery in Beny-Reviers, Normandy, last week during ceremonies to commemorate the 1945 armistice and the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. (Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

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PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy"s honeymoon with the media didn"t last long.

A year after he was swept to power, Mr. Sarkozy"s popularity ratings have plunged as fast as they had risen. Ambitious projects have remained on the drawing boards. And 55 percent of those who voted for him hope he will not stand again after the end of the present five-year mandate.

Although he is still flamboyant and pledging to change France, something has snapped in his relationship with the electorate, analysts say. Some of his projects now seem unreal, others too costly or unnecessary.

And the general public seemed annoyed by his penchant for luxury and high-profile romantic problems: a divorce and an almost immediate remarriage to Carla Bruni, a guitar-playing singer and former model.

In a gloomy economic climate, the weekly Paris Match estimated that 72 percent of Frenchmen are unhappy with Mr. Sarkozy"s performance and 65 percent feel that he has not fulfilled his campaign promises.

According to a telephone opinion poll ViaVoice, six out of ten voters consider the Sarkozy presidency a failure.

To the daily Le Parisien, with a popularity rating of 36 percent, Mr. Sarkozy is the least popular of seven presidents in office over the past 50 years.

Against such a background, pundits and political scientists are speculating whether France can be reformed, as the president set out to accomplish, and whether it really wants to be reformed.

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