BY ELECTING THE conservative Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday, the French actually chose the candidate promising the most radical change, while rejecting a defender of the status quo in socialist Ségolène Royal. The president-elect, whose 53.2 percent to 46.8 percent margin of victory was more than comfortable, is young (52 years old) and openly Atlanticist and pro-American. He declared in his acceptance speech that his priorities would be to “rehabilitate work, morality, respect, merit.”
The French (53 percent of them, anyway) seem to have forgotten their reluctance to change, their well-known anti-Americanism, and their custom of electing presidents from the ranks of the elite finishing school, the Ecole National d’Administration, with typical French names like Jacques or François. Sarkozy will benefit from a massive mandate–the 84 percent turnout (the highest since 1981) and from being elected “by himself.” Centrist candidate François Bayrou refused to support him, and far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen called for his backers to sit out the final round of voting. As he said in his acceptance speech, Sarkozy wants to “break with the habits from the past.” The broad support he received will maximize his chances of carrying out the numerous reforms promised in his platform, such as freezing public-sector hiring, modifying the 35-hour week, and cutting taxes.
