France’s unfocused candidates vie for undecided voters

Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative candidate for president, suggests that pedophilia is most likely a genetic flaw

Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative candidate for president, suggests that pedophilia is most likely a genetic flaw; Ségolène Royal, the Socialist, does not seem to know that Taliban extremists are no longer running the government of Afghanistan; and Jean-Marie Le Pen, the ultra-rightist, recommends masturbation instead of free condoms to meet young people’s sexual needs.

With 12 days to go before the first round of France’s presidential election, the campaign has entered a phase of improvisation and even silliness that reflects the absence of any single defining issue and a frenzied competition to win over the country’s large bloc of undecided voters. A record 42 per cent of French voters say they are undecided or can still change their minds, according to a recent survey. Among voters under the age of 30, the percentage is even higher, at 56 per cent.

Part of the problem is what political scientist Jacques Gerstlé calls “the absence of a dominant theme,” unlike the last campaign in 2002 where the issues of security and unemployment monopolised the debate. The current campaign, he adds, resembles a nationwide “zapping,” in which candidates flit from topic to topic — from the woes of Airbus to the private wealth of candidates to whether every French household should keep the nation’s flag.

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Sarkozy, the frontrunner, seems to be benefiting from the uncertainty. But over the weekend, his opponents and even the Roman Catholic archbishop of Paris criticised him for suggesting that paedophiles had a genetic disposition to their perversion.

In the Socialist camp, there is a consensus that Royal, who is running second in the polls, has frittered away the advantages that come with running to be the first woman elected president of France. Eric Besson, her former chief economic adviser, quit over differences with her, then savaged her in a book published weeks later. He described her as making decisions solo, improvising policies without forethought and then portraying herself as the victim of a male-dominated news media to gain an advantage.

Royal has been most gaffe-prone on foreign policy terrain. Last week, in discussing the fate of two Frenchmen held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan, she called for UN-imposed penalties for rulers like the Taliban, as if unaware that the extremists were ousted in 2001.

François Bayrou, the contender from the centrist Union for French Democracy party, who is running third in the polls before the first round, has run a largely gaffe-free campaign that has been criticised, however, for its vagueness.

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By contrast, Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front who is running in fourth place, seems to revel in making headline-grabbing statements. At a meeting, he defended his opposition to providing free condoms to high school students. “For those who are fixated on it, I recommend manu militari (a tongue-in-cheek reference to masturbation),” he said.