With just a little more than three months to go the French presidential election campaign is in full swing and the right’s frontrunner François Fillon had appeared confident at the controls.
But he took a bashing on Wednesday morning when the respected political satire rag Le Canard Enchainee revealed suspicions Fillon may have paid his wife rather a lot of money to work for him. Entirely legal of course, but only if she actually put in the hours. Still, half a million euros for eight years hard graft appears richly rewarded for a parliamentary aide.
La Une du 25 janvier 2017 est à consulter ici : https://t.co/GDOKQmdwxf— canardenchaine (canardenchaine) 24 janvier 2017
“I see the stink bombs have started to fly. I’m not going to comment because there’s nothing to say. I simply want to say that I’m shocked by the contempt and misogeny that is on display in this article. I suppose that my wife doesn’t have the right to work?” was his immediate reaction.
#Fion est loin d‘être irréprochable, Sté privée cachée, emploi fictif pr sa femme, il ne peut donc pas diriger la #France selon ses critères https://t.co/TYr7tin9SB— Rose (@RoseLaloba) 24 janvier 2017
If this proves to have been a “dummy” job and Welsh-born Penelope did not roll her sleeves up and pitch in with the interns, then French laws come down hard. It is corruption and the theft of public money. Such “dummy” jobs have often been the subject of political scandal in the past. An inquiry is underway.
En 5 ans les socialistes sont passé de “mon ennemi cest le monde de la finance “ à “votez pour mon banquier” ! #macron #macron2017 pic.twitter.com/4L5Z93wH66— jean-sebastien (@JeansebValette) 18 janvier 2017
The leading leftwing party, the Socialists, have little to cheer about. An interloper cuckoo in President Hollande’s nest, former minister Emmanuel Macron, has stolen their centre ground running as an independent. He’s just visited Lebanon to buff up his foreign policy credentials. His “En Marche” party is brand new out of the box and is hurting the traditional right, too.
There are six main declared candidates so far likely to get enough sponsorship signatures, 500, from France’s 32,000 Mayors.
From Jean Luc Melanchon on the hard left to Marine Le Pen on the far right, and the Greens, Macron, centre-left and right in the middle. Only two can make it to the knock-out round.
The governing Socialists have been in disarray but their leadership is fresh. A field of seven pretenders was whittled down to two, but in a poorly-supported vote where there was little enthusiasm and an air of premature defeat seemed to hang in the air. Some fear the PS sliding back to its pre-Mitterrand days of 20% or less of the popular vote.
Manuel Valls and Benoit Hamon have mirrored the division within the party, two different visions of a possible future. Former Prime Minister Manuel Valls has pitched as the pragmatic realist while Benoit Hamon dares to dream. Valls shot down his idea
