François Hollande, the 57-year-old father of four whose nickname in France is Monsieur Normal, will take on Nicolas Sarkozy as the Socialist challenger in next year’s presidential election. He beat his rival, Martine Aubry, in the second round of the first primary elections to be held in France, with 56 per cent of the 2.7 million votes cast.
He told supporters he wanted to fulfil the dreams of “young people who hope for a better life than ours” and pledged to reverse many of Mr Sarkozy’s cuts – and defend the historic leftist vision of “liberty, equality and progress” in France.
François Hollande was born in Rouen, educated at the Institute of Political Studies and the École Nationale d’Administration, and has served as a deputy in the National Assembly, representing Corrèze, since 1997.
After the result he received the backing of all the defeated candidates. He said: “I have received an urgent mandate to bring the left back to power.”
France has not had a Socialist President for nearly 17 years, since François Mitterand left the Élysée Palace in 1995, but there is real hope that in François Hollande the left have, at last, a credible candidate who can win.
It is not just the policies, which look increasingly attractive to an electorate alarmed by the damage President Sarkozy is doing to the economy, it is the personality, too.
François Hollande has many friends and few enemies – even his opponents on the right do not actively dislike him – a genial personality – he is not grand in the Sarkozy fashion – and a sense of humour to which people easily respond.
The first round of voting for the next president is on April 22 2012 with the second round on May 6.
