Arrest rocks French presidential race
Allegations of sexual assault in a New York hotel have torn France’s presidential race asunder and savaged the reputation of the suave and self-assured Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, has topped French opinion polls for months as the man most likely to become the nation’s next president, consistently outshining the little-loved conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.
But yesterday Strauss-Kahn’s allies and rivals alike struggled with the shock at news that he was hauled off an Air France flight minutes before take-off, arrested and facing charges of attempted rape and a criminal sex act. In cafes and outdoor markets, French voters shared that disbelief.
For some, the arrest spells the end of the prominent Socialist’s presidential ambitions and even his political career; others warned that it was too early to judge a man who denies wrongdoing; and still others suspected a plot to blacken his name just as France’s presidential campaign heats up for the April 2012 first-round vote.
“It doesn’t spell the end for a politician, it spells the end for a man, period. And that is dramatic,” said former Adidas owner and prominent French businessman Bernard Tapie.
All options point to disarray on France’s political landscape for a while to come.
Strauss-Kahn’s absence from the fray could leave more room for the resurgent far right, or hand a lift to Socialist rival Francois Hollande or even to Mr Sarkozy himself.
The arrest also marks a striking fall from grace for a man who built up a formidable reputation as a problem-solver and sharp negotiator as IMF chief during the global financial crisis. That reputation had reflected well on France and many French voters were hoping he could bring it home with him next year.
The arrest was “humiliating for the IMF and humiliating for our country,” said MP Bernard Debre of Mr Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party.
Neither Strauss-Kahn nor Mr Sarkozy has formally declared their presidential candidacy but both are widely expected to want to run.
A poll by the IFOP agency published this weekend showed Strauss-Kahn with the highest support among possible presidential candidates, trailed closest by Mr Sarkozy and far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
Ms Le Pen, who heads the National Front party, said Strauss-Kahn has been “definitively discredited”.
Mr Sarkozy, his popularity in the doldrums for months, did not comment publicly yesterday. Voters on the left and within his conservative party are frustrated by his hardline stance on immigrants and his failure to fulfil many promises he made to boost France’s economy.
Socialist Party chief Martine Aubry – who harbours presidential ambitions of her own – said the news of Strauss-Kahn’s arrest hit her “like a thunderbolt. I am, like everyone, stupefied”.
She called on the long-divided party to “remain united and responsible” pending further developments.
But others were ready to call it a day for Strauss-Kahn’s career.
“I think his political career is over,” Philippe Martinat, who wrote a book called DSK-Sarkozy: The Duel, said. “Behind him he has other affairs ... I don’t see very well how he can pick himself back up.”
Strauss-Kahn is known in France as “DSK” for his initials, but French media have also dubbed him “the great seducer”. His reputation as a charmer of women has not hurt his career in France, where politicians’ private lives traditionally come under less scrutiny than in the United States.
“(Seducing women) was Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s Achilles heel. We knew he had a fragility in this sense,” said Mr Martinat.
Several French politicians urged caution in judging Strauss-Kahn.
Segolene Royal, who beat him for the Socialist presidential nomination in 2007 elections and is considering another bid, said in Paris: “Dominique Strauss-Kahn has the right, like everybody, to the presumption of innocence. We have to allow justice to do its work.”
Strauss-Kahn ally Jean-Marie Le Guen recently suggested the IMF chief was the subject of a smear campaign when pictures of Strauss-Kahn in a Porsche – deemed inappropriate for a Socialist candidate as France struggles with nearly 10% unemployment – circulated in the French media.
“The facts as they were reported today have nothing to do with the Dominique Strauss-Kahn whom we know,” he said yesterday. “Dominique Strauss-Kahn has never exhibited violence towards people close to him, to anyone.”
