So what’s the official political opposition doing at the moment? Its major representative is France’s socialist party which traces its history back 103 years. Its present state was indicated to us by a typical member – a Nice university lecturer – who told us she’s “full of despair when I look at the party today”. What’s the problem? One obvious disadvantage the party has is that Sarkozy, despite his faults and false steps, has assumed an authority, both at home and abroad, which impresses many voters. He benefits, as an instinctive crisis leader, from the current situation; the socialists seem lost, offering usually rather sterile-sounding criticism of his policies with no coherent programme of their own.

Above all, since the presidential election defeat of 2007, the party has been given over to vicious rivalries over influence and formal leadership. On the one hand, the old guard – with familiar faces going back to Mitterrand’s time – have been continually sniping at each other; on the other, an especially venomous contest developed between the flashy and vacuous Ségolène Royal and the homely and humourless Martine Aubry for the post of Secretary-General. In a second round – Royal challenged the first count – Aubry scraped in by 103 votes. Her opponent sulks and mutters, seemingly refusing the victor’s warning that “if we don’t get our act together the party could disappear”.

Meanwhile, according to sociologist Denis Muzet, “The average French voter has watched all this play out like a soap opera.” Those who take their left-wing sympathies more seriously have been attracted by Olivier Besancenot, an articulate (and highly educated) postman who’s launched a New Anti-Capitalist Party for those who seek a true transformation of society. “Revolutionary socialism has never really been tried,” he says. Sarkozy regards the young firebrand with ironic benevolence: “He’ll take votes from the socialists but never get enough to be a nuisance to us.”

From Riviera Reporter Issue 131: Feb/March 2009

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