Posted on 05/04/2007 10:03:54 PM PDT by Cincinna
Buoyed by an apparently unassailable lead ahead of tomorrow's French presidential election, Nicolas Sarkozy could not help but let slip yesterday that he was already thinking about his first days at the Elysée palace and who will be his first prime minister.
Nicolas Sarkozy with supporters in the French Alps
Standing on the plateau des Glières in the Alps on the spot where French Resistance members fought the Nazis, he declared: "The day after the election will come the time for action."
Final polls published yesterday showed that Mr Sarkozy, 52, who is head of the Right-wing UMP party, was set to beat his Socialist rival, Ségolène Royal, 53, by at least six percentage points.
After a crucial head-to-head televised debate on Wednesday, three polls gave Mr Sarkozy between 53 to 54.5 per cent of the vote compared with Miss Royal's 45.5 to 47 per cent.
While Mr Sarkozy insisted "we must wait calmly until Sunday, until then nothing is won", his talk of action suggested he was already thinking of his post-electoral plan.
After taking a few days off to "meditate" on his election, the former interior minister is planning to name a slimmed-down caretaker government, with just 15 cabinet ministers, ahead of legislative elections on June 10 and 17 in which he hopes to secure a solid majority in France's parliament, the National Assembly.
Two names are said to be in the running for prime minister: François Fillon, Mr Sarkozy's chief political adviser, who has barely left his side during the campaign, and Jean-Louis Borloo, 56, the employment and social cohesion minister who is regarded as the social conscience of the Right.
Mr Fillon, 53, a former social affairs and education minister, whose wife is Welsh, made a name for himself by pushing through pension reforms shortly after the 2002 election of Jacques Chirac, who sacked him three years later.
Mr Fillon, whose glass office sits directly opposite Mr Sarkozy's at campaign headquarters, has been instrumental in drawing up the UMP's legislative programme.
Although Mr Sarkozy recently said Mr Fillon had "the right profile" for the job, sources suggest he may opt for the moderate Mr Borloo in order to send calming signals to centrist voters and Left-wingers and sweeten the pill of his radical reform plan.
Mr Borloo, formerly part of the centrist UDF and co-president of the Radical Party - now affiliated to the UMP - has been drawing up a Marshall Plan for the "banlieues", the deprived suburbs which have a high-immigrant population.
The man who gave up his job as France's highest lawyer to enter politics as mayor of a poor northern French town, has devised a scheme offering youths training to turn away from crime.
Michèle Alliot-Marie, the defence minister and a former pro-Chirac rival, may also stand an outside chance.
Mr Sarkozy has promised that half of his ministers will be women, among them his star recruit and spokesman Rachida Dati, 40, a former judge of North African origin.
Françoise de Panafieu, who will run for mayor of Paris next year, may also get a post.
Top jobs could also go to Alain Juppé, Mr Chirac's former party chief and prime minister, and members of the centrist UDF party.
Any extra info on Fillon?
Great things will be happening in the next few days and weeks.
France will elect a President from the Right. A pro-free trade, pro-American, pro-Capitalist, anti Islamic terror conservative.
The choice of Prime Minister and all the Ministers for the Provisional Government which will go into effect immediately will be meaningful and important.
IMO Sarko will pick either Francois Fillon or Jean-Louis Borloo for PM. Borloo is the most popular at the moment.
Any thoughts on who will be in or out? Post them here.
FReepMail me.... There is still time to sign up for the FRENCH ELECTION PING LIST.
Francois Fillon is the Sarko’s “Karl Rove” if you will. His closest political adviser and the architect of his campaign and plans for the future. He is well liked and highly respected for his intelligence and competence.
Sarkozy is not from Chirac's Socialist party, his opponent (Royal) is.
Hopefully, it involves having the loathsome Madame Royal arrested before she can slither too far off, and charged with whatever statutes or sanctions in French law might apply insofar as attempting to influence an election by unsubtly encouraging a willfully unassimilated French Muslim population to engage in rioting and violence.
No. Chriac was in the same center-right party that Sarkozy is in. However, Sarkozy is far more conservative.
Ahh, right, my mistake. I was mixing up Chirac with Francois Mitterand.
Sarkozy could not help but let slip yesterday that he was already thinking about his first days at the Elysée palace and who will be his first prime minister.Uh-oh.
Tell me about it. Her call to violence was loud and clear. Why is it that the left always talks of being the peace party but is always ready to riot if they don’t get their way?
I hope this all mean better relations between the US and France.
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