Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Balancing Act

As if François Bayrou playing hard to get in the center weren't giving her enough trouble, Ségolène Royal is now facing a mini-rebellion on her left. Both the Communist Party and the League of Communist Revolutionaries, representing 6% of the first-round vote, have just strongly criticized her attempts to woo Bayrou and his centrist voters. Since Bayrou's UDF only recently broke ranks with the governing majority, they claim, it's akin to fraternizing with the enemy.

Unfortunately, even a cursory glance at the electoral math shows that Royal simply doesn't have the votes to win unless she picks up quite a bit of support from the center. She's already ruled out any modification of the "Presidential Pact" on which she ran for the first round, which will probably cost her an explicit endorsement from Bayrou. But if even working at the margins to appeal to some of his voters costs her the support of the extreme left, it's hard to see how she can get to the finish line in one piece.

Posted by Judah in:  La Presidentielle   

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