PARIS — Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s usually omnipresent chief of state, was lying low until after municipal elections that start today, trying to prevent his low poll ratings from dragging down his allies.
Sarkozy’s conservative party fears that his dramatic slide in popularity will damage its chances in the two rounds of balloting that end March 16.
Though centered on parks, schools, transportation and other local issues, the elections for mayor, deputy mayor or municipal councilor are a referendum on Sarkozy’s performance and image, analysts say — and they’re out of sync with what the French expect of a head of state.
The 53-year-old Sarkozy was elected last year on a pledge to loosen strict labor laws and ease high taxes. But the French economy remains sluggish, and only minor changes have been made. His quick marriage to model Carla Bruni after his divorce also soured voters, as did his angry outburst toward a man who refused to shake his hand.
Polls show the president’s popularity as low as 37 percent.
The rival left, led by the Socialist party, is looking to cripple Sarkozy politically by reversing conservative gains in the last municipal elections in 2001 in the country’s nearly 36,700 cities, towns and villages.
Many candidates of Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement, or UMP, have removed the party logo from their posters.
Former small-business minister Renaud Dutreil, a UMP member who risks defeat by his Socialist adversary in Reims, blames his troubles on “the bad winds blowing from Paris.”
If the right suffers a major loss, Sarkozy “would be like a magician who has lost his magic,” said political analyst Jean-Luc Parodi. Even some lawmakers from his own party might be less likely to fall in line with his policies.
