It’s election day in France, and the frontrunner is Nicolas Sarkozy, who has served in various positions in the Chirac administration since the mid-1990′s. If things go as everyone anticipates, there will be a subsequent run-off election between Sarkozy and the Socialist Ségolène Royal. We thought we’d take a look at how the front runner is being portrayed on election day by some of the international press. AP:

Sarkozy, blunt, reformist and pro-American, was frightening to many French. Royal presented a smiling, feminist mother-figure. Scholarly farmer’s son Francois Bayrou could pull off a surprise win, and the anti-immigrant nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen was still counting on big support, in hopes of repeating his shock 2002 second-place finish.

And the London Times:

Mr Sarkozy, an abrasive character who is accused by his critics of being overly authoritarian, underwent a public split from his wife in 2005 when she left him for a New York advertising executive, complaining that he treated her like “a piece of furniture”. The two reconciled early last year, but Cecilia, the daughter of a Russian pianist, has been all but invisible in recent weeks, prompting speculation – fuelled last week by Mr Le Pen – that their relationship is in trouble.

We’ll know how this “frightening” man does within a matter of hours. As of this writing, an incredible 74% of French voters have turned out to vote, according to Le Monde, and Ipsos forecasts that this number will reach 87% before the polls close.

UPDATE

Apparently Sarkozy was not sufficiently “frightening“, since he bested the field with a 30% to 26% showing against Royal:

Turnout is currently estimated at 84%, just short of a record.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 22nd, 2007 at 8:09 am and is filed under EU, MSM, Polling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.