October 27, 2011. Copyright 2011, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Francois Hollande prepares to take on Sarkozy for president
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, October 27, Graphic News:  Francois Hollande may have been handed a golden opportunity to return the Socialist party to the Elysee Palace after 17 years of right-wing rule as he prepares to take on President Nicolas Sarkozy in an election campaign that is certain to focus on the economic crisis in France. 

Hollande, whose selection as candidate for polls in 2012 has been hailed a triumph of level-headedness by his party, is a moderate Socialist whose affable demeanour and common-sense approach have made his pledges to cut the ballooning budget deficit more palatable than those of Sarkozy. Recent polls put him ahead of the president.

But the rise of Hollande -- a former party leader deemed so genial and inoffensive he is known as "Monsieur Normal" -- perhaps owes more to circumstances than any particular characteristics of his own. That France has been gripped by its own debt and banking crisis, as well affected by wider EU economic woes, has fuelled the hunger for change. Ultimately, it was the withdrawal from the race of Socialist favourite Dominique Strauss-Kahn amid rape and sex allegations that thrust Hollande to the fore.  

Born in Rouen in 1954, Hollande was the son of a doctor and social worker, who was educated at the elite institutions of ENA and Sciences Po and joined the Socialist party in 1979. He has long represented the area of Correze as a deputy in the National Assembly. In 1997 he became leader of the party, a position he held for almost a decade until stepping down following the defeat of Segolene Royal, his glamorous partner and the mother of his four children, for the Socialists in 2007 presidential polls. Hollande separated from Royal in the aftermath of her defeat, when it emerged he had been having an affair with his current partner, journalist Valerie Trierweiler. Some say it was at that point that Hollande really came into his own.

Since then Hollande has emerged as potentially his party's most effective rebuff to Sarkozy, who is disliked for his flashy tastes and aloof attitude as much as for his government's spending cuts. While the diminutive president is famously sensitive about his short stature, Hollande jokes that his being just 5ft 6in (1.68m) gives him a low centre of gravity that makes it impossible to knock him down. Even former right-wing president Jacques Chirac has appeared to prefer Hollande, complimenting him for being "statesmanlike" in an apparent dig at Sarkozy. While his critics claim that Hollande lacks experience at a senior level of government, supporters say his dedication is evident in his long years behind the scenes.

If some once found it hard to take Hollande seriously, few now doubt his conviction when promising to deliver a better future for French youth or to unite the left behind the campaign to oust Sarkozy. For the time being, at least, many French seem prepared to put to the side deeper questions about how the Socialists will fix the economy if it means they might have a leader who appears to be genuinely on their side.
/ENDS