London, October 10: Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency – and especially his relationship with his conservative followers and voters – has been seriously undermined by the “sexual tourism” scandal which has engulfed his Culture Minister, according to centre-right politicians.
Parliamentarians in the President’s own party suggest that the “Frédéric Mitterrand affair” – whatever its rights and wrongs – has alienated the older, traditionalist voters who turned out for Mr Sarkozy in 2007 after he promised to roll back the influence of a “left-liberal, post-1968”, cultural elite.
Some centre-right parliamentarians blame the scandal on what they call the “bo-bo [bourgeois bohemian] values” brought to the Elysée Palace by the President’s wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
–Agencies