Posted on 04/26/2007 6:19:27 PM PDT by Cincinna
France's Canal+ station on Thursday pulled the plug on a TV debate between Socialist presidential contender Segolene Royal and defeated centrist Francois Bayrou, citing election equal airtime rules.
Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy, her rightwing rival in a May 6 run off, are battling for the hearts and minds of some 7 million voters who backed Bayrou in a first round election on Sunday.
But Canal+ television, which had organized the Royal-Bayrou debate with i-Tele and France Inter radio, said in a statement the debate could not go ahead as planned at midday on Saturday.
"(The) rules impose a strict equality of air time between presidential candidates, so Canal+ cannot broadcast the debate between Segolene Royal and Francois Bayrou," Canal+ said.
The CSA broadcasting watchdog denied it had intervened to scrap the debate and Socialists cried foul, with Royal aide Jack Lang evoking "pretty peculiar political pressure".
A party spokesman said the debate would go ahead in one form or another.
Royal said she wanted the debate to assess possible points of convergence with Bayrou, but she angered some of the Socialist's traditional far-left allies who suspect she wants to shunt the party towards the political centre to win power.
Sarkozy supporter Jean-Francois Cope told RTL radio the debate's cancellation was a non-event that "should not deflect the French people from the real debate between the two who reached the final for the second round".
Former interior minister Sarkozy won 31.2 percent of the vote on Sunday, qualifying for the runoff against Royal who finished second on 25.9 percent.
Bayrou came third with 18.6 percent and has refused to endorse either candidate, but he was especially harsh in his criticism of Sarkozy in a press conference on Wednesday.
"Bayrou won't vote for Sarkozy," le Parisien daily said.
POLL HOPE
Opinion polls say Sarkozy should beat Royal in the run-off, putting the onus on the Socialist candidate to take risks.
Political analysts said a television debate with Bayrou could have backfired on Royal because her message could become confused and she could antagonize her bedrock supporters.
But if she succeeds in winning over Bayrou, she could clinch vital extra votes to overtake Sarkozy. A CSA survey released on Thursday showed Sarkozy on 52 percent against 48 percent for Royal, who had slightly narrowed the gap.
Small leftist parties whose presidential candidates were eliminated in the first round have urged their supporters to vote for Royal on May 6, but they said her cultivation of the centrists could alienate some voters.
"If it's her objective to beat Nicolas Sarkozy, it's totally contradictory to go looking for the votes of all of the left, while at the same time preparing the base for a political alliance with Bayrou," a small communist party said.
Royal has based her campaign on left-wing economic policies and conservative social values, criticizing high bank charges and excessive executive payouts, but also raising eyebrows with a plan to send young troublemakers to military boot camps.
Sarkozy, who portrays himself as a no-nonsense man of action, has pushed a tough line on immigration and law and order. He wants the French to work harder and pay less tax.
(Additional reporting by Kerstin Gehmlich, Jean Baptiste Vey)
Many in her own Socialist Party do not want to move towards the center and many of the far-left parties do not want the Centrists to have so much power.
Also at stake is the doling out of Minister portfolios, and a multitude of other cushy jobs. If she dances with Bayrou, so to speak, he will have to get the spoils if she wins.
There are 10 days left before the Election. Sarko is still ahead in the polls.
Still time to sign up for the FRENCH ELECTION PING LIST.
FReepmail me if you are interested.
Interesting tidbit: Jack Lang, the aide to Royal quoted in the story, was a member of the French Communist Party — the official, Stalinist one — at least in the 1980s, when he was Mitterrand’s minister of culture or something. You probably know this, but few others probably do. I don’t know much about him, but the communist affiliation, even if it’s old, is pretty disturbing.
Are Sarko and Royal also not going to debate each other before the next election? Why not?
A little confusing. There is another Jack Lang, an Australian who was a Communist.
The French Jack Lang is a Socialist, and was Minister of Culture under Mitterand. He was until recently, one of the most popular political figures in France.
He is the epitome of “la gauche caviar” known for his tastes for luxury, and other things, not to be mentioned on a family Forum.
There is an official debate next Wednesday between Sarko and Royal.
It will be televised and will be face to face.
It will be seen in the US on the Cable Channel TV5 live.
Will it be in prime time?
Jack Lang, the minister of culture under Mitterrand, was a Communist at least when he was appointed to this post, circa 1981. How long he remained in the party, I don’t know.
Please explain why she would debate Bayrou
Wasn’t he tossed out already?
Jack Lang, the French Jack Lang, not the Australian, was never a member of the PCF.
From Wikipedia:
Lang entered politics as a Socialist member of French National Assembly from Paris in 1977. He is best known for having served as Minister of Culture (22 May 1981-19 March 1986 and 13 May 1988-29 March 1993) and as Minister of Education (3 April 1992 to 29 March 1993 and 27 March 2000 to 5 May 2002).
In 1981, while Minister of Culture, he created the Fête de la Musique, a massive celebration of music held on 21 June each year, where many amateur musicians give free open-air performances. He is the co-founder and president of the Union of the Theatres of Europe.
In 2000 Lang ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Paris. While he had planned to run for president in 2007 he decided not to register as a candidate for the Socialist nomination in the name of party unity.
‘There is an official debate next Wednesday between Sarko and Royal.
It will be televised and will be face to face.
It will be seen in the US on the Cable Channel TV5 live’
Do you think it will be on line? If so, where?
thanks for the updates.
It was actually a pretty clever move. Bayrou has said he will not tell his supporters which way to vote, but has made it clear that he believes that Sarkozy is a “fascist” (Anyone who uses the word fascist in any but a historical sense is obviously a commie).
By “debating” Royal and getting the audience that such a debate would attract, they could both trash Sarko while pretending to be debating.
For once, Canal+ (which is privately owned) understood and did the right thing.
Bayrou came in 3rd. Royal wants to pick up votes from Bayrou supporters, so she proposed a debate, showing, she believed, she is open to discussion on all topics.
Sarko refused to debate Bayrou, saying, and I am paraphrasing, “In a soccer game, the two top teams face off. The runner up doesn’t get to play.”
Good point. I would add that being the loser in the last 50 opinion polls, she doesn’t have much to lose.
In other developments, many in Bayrou’s party, UDF, are lining up for Sarko.
JP Raffarin, former Prime minister, and many UDF regional elected officials have joined with Sarko’s party, UMP, to get Sarko elected,
They just today started an excellent website and blog. For all of you who read French, I highly recommend it.
http://www.dialogue-initiative.com/ledebat/
Many in her own Socialist Party do not want to move towards the center and many of the far-left parties do not want the Centrists to have so much power.
Also at stake is the doling out of Minister portfolios, and a multitude of other cushy jobs. If she dances with Bayrou, so to speak, he will have to get the spoils if she wins.
Leftists not moving to the center before an election is a hard thing to get my head around. So “if” Royal had debated Bayrou and co opted his platfor, then her base would have thrown her overboard?
tre’ bizarre!
Bayrou is better served by remaining anti Sarkozy but not pro Royal, they can still have commercials of course..
In the US, the candidate that has 50% in the poll on the Friday before the election will win the election (at least presidential ones) does anyone know if the same holds true in France? The last two elections have been walkovers with Chirac not even debating LePen.
Difficult to say. Sarko’s 11 million votes was the most EVER in a first round contest under the Fifth Republic.
Le Pen constantly under-polled because no one but his hard core supporters wanted to admit publicly that they were going to vote for him.
I suspect that it will be the same for Sarko.
Actually, due to the equal time requirement in French Election law, this debate was never going to happen unless Sarko agreed to participate. He wisely declined and came out looking much more Presidential than Royal, who came off as groveling to Bayrou’s constituents for votes/
Never?
Never underestimate the corruption of the French. Someone leaned on Canal+ and apparently it wasn’t the CSA (Equivalent of the FCC).
Well, Wikipedia can be wrong. It’s also possible that he joined the CP between ‘77 and ‘81.
But news stories can be wrong too. I distinctly remember Lang being referred to as a Communist Party member of Mitterrand’s government. It may have been inaccurate.
I have known Jack Lang since 1983. He may be a lot of things, but a Communist is not one of them.
I think the confusion stems from the Communist in Australia with the same name.
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