Is Sarkozy about to throw in the towel ?
President Nicolas Sarkozy will be fighting for his political life when he makes a live appearance on French TV tonight. Some senior figures within his own party fear that he has already lost all chance of winning the two-round presidential election in April and May. There is speculation possibly rooted in wishful thinking that Mr Sarkozy may soon be tempted to throw in the towel and allow another senior centre-right politician to run in his place.
Sources within his centre-right party insist that the President will make no dramatic statements tonight. He will not say that he is pulling out of the race. Nor will he declare yet that he is a candidate for another five-year presidential term. His TV address to the nation will be purely presidential, they insist: announcing a programme of "urgent" and "revolutionary" reforms to make the struggling French economy more competitive. This will include a controversial plan to shift part of the high pay-roll tax burden on French employers to a higher rate of VAT.
But the tone and contents of Mr Sarkozy's address will be closely watched by supporters, and rivals, within his centre-right party, the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP). The President upset some of his supporters last week with off-the-record comments in which he said that he would give up politics if he lost the election.
This was interpreted by some politicians and commentators as a sign that Mr Sarkozy had become defeatist and had no stomach for the fight. The Socialist candidate François Hollande is comfortably ahead in the opinion polls and has given a series of eloquent and confident performances in campaign rallies and TV appearances in the past week.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/is-sarkozy-about-to-throw-in-the-towel-6296123.html