Elections in France, 2007

Publication Date: April 2007

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

Type:

Coverage: France

Abstract:

On April 22, 2007, the first of two likely rounds of presidential elections is to take place in France. Legislative elections would follow in June. The winner of the presidential elections will have a five-year term.

Since 1981, France has had only two presidents. There is a sense of malaise in the country, in part due to high unemployment and slow economic growth. The current elections could bring to power a younger generation of leaders. The two principal candidates are the Gaullist Nicolas Sarkozy, and the Socialist Segolene Royal. They present themselves as outsiders, prepared to bring fresh life to French democracy. A third candidate, in a field of 12, is Francois Bayrou, a center-right party leader. Trailing Bayrou is the racist and anti-immigrant candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Sarkozy is a tough-minded former Interior Minister whose campaign builds on his reputation as hard on illegal immigration and insistent on greater efforts by the country's large Muslim community to better integrate itself into French life.

Royal has pursued a campaign meant to place her directly in touch with French voters. In doing so, she has circumvented some of the steps normally necessary to gain the Socialist Party nomination. This campaign strategy has put her at odds with some of the Party elders. She is gambling that her campaign of "participatory democracy" will appeal to a range of voters beyond the Socialist Party. The core of her political message has been attention to community and family life.

Foreign policy is important in the 2007 French elections. Sarkozy and Royal have stressed the growing danger of Iran; each would maintain economic sanctions against Iran. Both candidates support French participation in U.N., NATO, and EU security and stabilization missions, but there are disagreements with the United States over some elements of NATO's mission and future. Each supports a strong European Union as a partner but not rival of the United States.

Sarkozy presents himself as a friend of the United States and an admirer of American culture, but adds that France under his leadership would assert its usual independence. Royal has been sharply critical of the Bush Administration, and contends that U.S. "unilateralism" in recent years has damaged bilateral relations and increased instability in the Middle East.

It is possible that either Sarkozy or Royal, if elected, would pursue a practical and non-ideological posture towards the United States. Neither is likely to alter the U.S.-French relationship in a stark manner. Cooperation over counterterrorism measures, multinational operations in Lebanon, the Balkans, and Afghanistan, and good trade relations are likely to continue.

This report will be updated to reflect the outcome of the presidential and legislative elections. See also CRS Report RL32464, France: Factors Shaping Foreign Policy, and Issues in U.S.-French Relations, by Paul Gallis.