France’s Third Man
France's presidential election campaign has again exposed popular frustration with the political system, with many Socialist and conservative voters embracing Francois Bayrou's centrist candidacy. According to Dominique Moisi, while this is an obvious improvement over the success of extremists in the 2002 election, a Bayrou victory – unlikely but not impossible – might sweep away de Gaulle's Fifth Republic.
Should we be watching the French presidential campaign with admiration or alarm? Or perhaps a bit of both? It is undeniably a great “show” with all the ingredients of a Hollywood blockbuster, including a surprising plot twist: the emergence of a “Third Man,” François Bayrou.