As the French turned out en masse on May 6th to elect Nicolas Sarkozy as their new president, I felt a bit like one of those Hugh Grant weddings where guests are sitting tense, bracing for something to go wrong. And with no wonder I was right.
Handing him 53% of the vote, to take to the stage at a theatre in central Paris it seems like the election was the victory of one France against another. Some of the French who failed to reflect their mood at the ballot box are now increasingly taking to the streets. As left-wing protests against president Nicolas Sarkozy continued for a fourth night on Wednesday, French police arrested more than 100 demonstrators and hundreds of students went on strike at a Paris university.
However, for Sarkozy who wants to regularly address the French in TV appearances and press conferences, to address parliament and submit proposed appointments for parliament’s approval, planned to go on a three-day post-victory retreat to some isolated corner of France, most probably, a monastery to calmly digest victory and come to terms with the seriousness of the weight on his shoulders.
The protests follow three nights of violent confrontations between police and young rioters in Paris and other cities that government politicians blame on inflammatory statements from left-wing politicians during the election campaign. It seems like France is divided into two parts - there is poor and young on one side and there is another France that is richer and where they are not worried about the social situation.
Whatever is leading to the protests the real question is how far Mr. Sarkozy will be able to implement the controversial reformist elements of his program. It is to be seen if all the talk of ‘change‘ turns out to no more than empty campaign rhetoric.
