Inquiry into Right-wing Presidential Candidate Fillon’s Wife

'Penelopegate: A Blow to Right-wing French Presidential Candidate Fillon'

France – Penelopegate: Presidential Favourite Fillon ‘Paid Wife As Aide’

France's presidential favourite has hit a roadblock in his campaign.

Splintered Left: French Socialists Divided ahead of Primary Run-off (Parts 1 & 2)

Why Macron Is On the Rise in France | World

The FT’s Paris bureau chief Anne-Sylvaine Chassany looks at what’s behind the rise in popularity of Emmanuel Macron in the Frenc

A 'Catholic' President? French Conservative Fillon Breaks with Secularism

France's Macron Closes In on Marine Le Pen

Emmanuel Macron is stepping up his campaign to become France's next president. He is running as an independent in the upcoming election to be held in April and May. Politically positioned in the centre, polls show the former finance minister is gaining ground on front-runners conservative Francois Fillon and the far right's Marine le Pen. Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler reports from Clermont-Ferrand.

A Climate of Political Defiance in Run Up to France's 2017 Presidential Election

Brexit, Trump & Now Fillon: Surprise Result of French Center-right Primary

The victory of François Fillon, the French presidential hopeful who secured a convincing win in the first round of the center-right primary despite trailing in polls, took many by surprise. But some say his success is simply a French version of the ‘Trump effect’.

Inside Story - Who Can Stand Up to the National Front?

Republicans in France choose their candidate for the presidential election next May

Right-wing Primary Polls Open in France

Polls have opened in France for the first round of the right-wing primary. Seven candidates are hoping to win the right-wing nomination for next year's presidential election.

Le Pen and the Rise of the Far-right in France - BBC Newsnight

Marine Le Pen and her far-right Front National are expected to do well in upcoming elections in France. What does the rise of the far right mean for French politics? And what is her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, doing now? Gabriel Gatehouse reports.

French Politician in Hot Water after Calling France ‘White Race’ Nation

France is a white race nation – the statement made by a French politician, Nadine Morano, has landed her in hot water, but is reopening a long debate over the issue.

Marine Le Pen Tells Father to Step Down from French Politics

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Leader of France's far-right says her father will be summoned before a disciplinary committee for his anti-Semitic remarks and says she no longer sees a future for him in Front National

France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen urged her father Jean-Marie to withdraw from political life and said she would begin disciplinary proceedings against him over repeated comments that had harmed efforts to broaden her party's appeal.

The 86-year-old founder of the far-right party, who last week defended a past comment that Nazi gas chambers were a "detail of history", was quoted on Tuesday as calling France's Spanish-born Prime Minister Manuel Valls "the immigrant" and defending Philippe Petain, leader of the war-time government that cooperated with Nazi Germany.

In what has become an increasingly bitter family feud, Marine Le Pen and her aides believe her father is undermining her efforts to rid the anti-immigrant party of its anti-Semitic image and widen its voter appeal as she readies a bid for the presidency in 2017. » | Reuters | Thursday, April 09, 2015

French Political Class In Turmoil After Front National's European 'Earthquake' Victory

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The far-Right party has taken a quarter of the popular vote, beating both president Hollande's Socialists and the centre-Right UMP

France’s political establishment was in total disarray on Monday as its main parties reeled from the “earthquake” of seeing the far-Right Front National (FN) come first in European elections.

François Hollande, the deeply unpopular president, staged a crisis cabinet meeting to find ways to parry what is the French Socialist Party’s worst score since European elections were first held in 1979.

Sunday’s election saw the FN clinch almost 25 per cent of the vote, quadrupling its 2009 score in what its leader Marine Le Pen said translated a “massive rejection of the European Union”.

“We are witnessing the total rejection of the system,” she told Le Monde on Monday. “This is a kind of patriotic revolution” pitting the FN against the two main political parties, the Socialists and the opposition centre-Right UMP.

“The split is now between ‘nationals and globalists’,” she claimed. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Monday, May 26, 2014

France: Front National Sweeps to Victory

French politics in turmoil following the shock

Read the Daily Mail article here

Nicolas Sarkozy Plans 2017 Comeback

THE GUARDIAN: Bernadette Chirac says former French president will run against man who ousted him, François Hollande, at next election

That Nicolas Sarkozy is contemplating his comeback is hardly a secret in France.

Now one of the former president's most high-profile supporters and confidantes, the former first lady Bernadette Chirac, has confirmed Sarkozy is planning a return to the political fray.

Asked by Europe 1 radio on Wednesday whether she thought he would stand against the Socialist president François Hollande in three years, Chirac, replied: "I hope so!"

Pressed as to whether she had inside information, she said: "Ah, but I'm not allowed to say it," before finally admitting that Sarkozy had spoken to her and was indeed planning to stand in 2017.

"Well obviously," she told the radio station, adding: "But, he's going to tell me off for this."

Chirac, whose husband Jacques was president between 1995 and 2007 when he was succeeded by Sarkozy, has made little secret of her hopes of seeing the centre-right candidate make a comeback. While Sarkozy has refused to comment, he has indicated to friends that he is inclined to stand for a second term in office in 2017. » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Wednesday, January 22, 2014

'Francois Hollande Looks Totally Ridiculous,' French Newspaper Claims Nicolas Sarkozy Said

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy has reportedly said that his successor, President Francois Hollande, "looks totally ridiculous" as he seemingly emerges from his mistress's apartment wearing a motorbike helmet - and has gloated about how well in comparison he handled his blossoming relationship with Carla Bruni

François Hollande has made the French presidency look "ridiculous" with his scooter-driven nocturnal trips to visit his mistress, Nicolas Sarkozy was reported as saying on Wednesday.

As the scandal over Mr Hollande's affair with Julie Gayet, a 41-year old actress, continued to reverberate around France, Le Canard Enchaîné, the investigative weekly, said that Mr Sarkozy – his Right-wing predecessor – has been gloating over his rival's woes.

"He's got himself into a right old pickle," he was reported as saying to "visitors".

"Perhaps this will put an end to all his moralising," said Mr Sarkozy, whose Socialist successor has often accused of shamelessly exploiting his private life for political gain.

"With Carla, we tried to quickly make our relationship official because I didn't want a photo taken one sordid morning or after nightfall," Le Canard cites him as saying.

"While everyone has the right to a private life, when one is a public figure and president, one must be careful to avoid being ridiculous," he is quoted as scoffing.

"Well, that photo of Hollande coming out of his mistress' place with a motorbike helmet makes Hollande look totally ridiculous. He is the ridiculous president." Read on and comment » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Valérie Trierweiler to Remain in Hospital for Several More Days

THE GUARDIAN: François Hollande's partner was said to have suffered a 'very strong emotional shock' after hearing claims of affair

A top aide to France's first lady says she will remain in hospital for several more days to recover from the shock of a tabloid report that her partner, François Hollande, is having an affair with an actor.

Valerie Trierweiler's chief of staff, Patrice Biancone, said on Monday she could stay in hospital for a further six or eight days. She was initially expected to leave the hospital on Monday. He said she suffered a "very strong emotional shock" and needed rest. One official said she was receiving treatment for "a severe case of the blues".

Hollande has never married. He and Trierweiler have lived together since 2007 and she occupies the so-called "madame wing" of the presidential palace.

Meanwhile, the "Hollande affair" has taken an unexpectedly sinister turn with claims – and counter-claims – that the flat used for the president's alleged love tryst with an actor was linked to the Corsican mafia.

French media reported that the apartment where François Hollande met Julie Gayet was lent to her by a friend who was involved with two mobsters. » | Kim Willsher and Anne Penketh in Paris | Monday, January 13, 2014

François Hollande's Partner Valérie Trierweiler in Hospital with 'Exhaustion'

THE GUARDIAN: Journalist has been prescribed rest by doctors after learning of claims that French president was having affair with Julie Gayet

Valérie Trierweiler, the partner of the French president, François Hollande, has been taken to hospital with "exhaustion" following claims that he has been having an affair, it has emerged.

After hearing of Hollande's alleged trysts with the actor Julie Gayet, Trierweiler, a journalist, was taken to hospital where doctors prescribed rest. Trierweiler's office told L'Express magazine she had been taken to hospital on Friday afternoon and was due to be released on Monday.

An unidentified Élysée official told Le Monde that Trierweiler was suffering a "severe case of the blues". » | Anne Penketh in Paris | Sunday, January 12, 2014