PERCHED on a river bend in an unfashionable expanse of central France, Châteaudun is in many ways a typical French town. It boasts a 15th-century chateau, an unemployment rate of 10%, a fine main square shaded by plane trees and a Turkish kebab restaurant. This town of 13,000 inhabitants also happens to have a record of voting in line with the rest of the country. In 2007 locals backed the winner, Nicolas Sarkozy, on the right. In 2012 they voted for the victor, François Hollande, on the left. Today, as the first round of this year’s presidential election approaches on April 23rd, voters once again seem to reflect the national mood.
“I’m perplexed,” says Bertrand, a pensioner shopping on the main square, who voted for Mr Sarkozy in 2012 but has yet to make up his mind this time. He thinks François Fillon, the centre-right candidate who is under investigation for abuse of the parliamentary payroll, may be “competent” but has behaved “disgracefully”. Bertrand’s wife Geneviève, a retired librarian carrying geraniums from the market, voted for Mr Hollande last time. But she dismisses the Socialist candidate, Benoît Hamon, as “Utopian”. She says she is...Continue reading
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