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Sarkozy enjoys highest approval rating among French politicians

Sarkozy enjoys highest approval rating among French politicians

Posted September. 22, 2014 00:52,   

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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who declared return to politics, is enjoying the highest approval rating among key politicians.

The daily Le Parisian reported on Saturday that in an opinion poll asking French people "which leader can better reconstruct France," Sarkozy prevailed incumbent President Francois Hollande by a ratio of 60 percent to 32 percent in a hypothetical bilateral race. Sarkozy is also leading Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who seeks to run in the next presidential election, by a ratio of 51 percent to 43 percent. Sarkozy is overwhelming Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front party, with an approval rating of 64 percent versus 28 percent.

Sarkozy declared on Friday, "I will run in the election to select the chair of my political family (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire or Union for Popular Movement),” in declaring his return to politics.

However, public opinion is still not very positive towards his candidacy in the next presidential election. When asked "if the respondent wants Sarkozy to be a candidate in the 2017 presidential election" in an opinion poll conducted on Saturday by BFM TV, 63 percent of the respondents were negative. Notably as many as 92 percent of Socialist Party supporters were opposed to his candidacy. Some 67 percent of the respondents said they think Sarkozy who had been criticized for a lavish private life during his term in office “has not changed.”

In an interview with "France 2 TV," Sarkozy said, “Now is not the time to declare my candidacy in the presidential election,” adding, “A long journey to reform the opposition party has now begun.” On six cases of corruption allegations including the "Karachi connection," in which he is suspected of taking kick-backs for export of weapons to Pakistan, he claimed to be not guilty by saying, “I have been cleared of most of the charges already, or they are mostly found to have been fabricated, and in the "Pygmalion" case related with presidential election fund, I am the victim.” Some watchers claim, “Sarkozy’s high approval rating stems from antipathy toward President Hollande, who has failed to resolve a high unemployment rate.”