http://www.france24.com/en/20120313-marine-le-pen-national-front-france-presidential-elections
REUTERS - French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has obtained the backing of 500 elected officials required to be a candidate in the April-May presidential election, she told Reuters on Tuesday, clearing a hurdle days before Friday’s filing deadline.
“I have my 500 signatures and therefore I will be a candidate in the presidential election,” Le Pen said.
A failure by Le Pen to gather the requisite support by March 16 could have rocked the election race with far-right voters likely to have switched support to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is behind Socialist Francois Hollande in most opinion polls.
Le Pen - a charismatic speaker who has won a strong following since she took over the National Front leadership from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in January 2011 - is running third in polls but with too low a score to seriously threaten Hollande or Sarkozy’s chances of facing each other in a May 6 runoff.
The former lawyer has shifted from her party’s traditional anti-immigration focus and is campaigning for France to exit the euro and erect protectionist barriers. She will hold a news conference later on Tuesday to announce that she is formally in the race.
Sarkozy leads Hollande for the first time in an opinion poll on Tuesday for round one of the election, but is still shown losing in the second round. The Ifop/Fiducial poll put support for Sarkozy at 28.5 percent in the first round on April 22, up from 27 percent at the end of February. Support for Hollande slipped to 27 percent, from 28.5 percent, the poll showed.
Other recent polls put Hollande’s support at 28-29 percent and Sarkozy at 27-28 percent for the first round, with Le Pen at around 16 percent, having lost several points in recent weeks. Centrist Francois Bayrou ranks fourth with 12 percent.
In January, Le Pen was just a couple of percentage points behind Sarkozy in polls, reviving memories of the 2002 election when her father made it into a second-round presidential vote against Jacques Chirac. That year, Jean-Marie Le Pen also obtained his 500th signature just before the deadline.
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http://www.france24.com/en/20120313-ziad-takieddine-french-politics-sarkozy-libya-gaddafi-presidential-election
He has been witness to some of France’s darkest secrets, a Franco-Lebanese businessman who has been implicated in some of the nation’s biggest arms scandals. But Ziad Takieddine has always maintained that he’s more comfortable in the background than on center-stage.
The spotlight though has a way of singling out the 61-year-old businessman who has been a middle-man in a number of arms and oil contracts between France and several Middle East nations.
The latest scandal surrounds Takieddine’s alleged role in a reported transfer of 50 million euros from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime to French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign.
In an article published Monday, French investigative news site Mediapart alleged that Takieddine, who organized Sarkozy's visits to Libya in 2005 and 2007, was the middleman in the murky deal.
The spotlight though has a way of singling out the 61-year-old businessman who has been a middle-man in a number of arms and oil contracts between France and several Middle East nations.
The latest scandal surrounds Takieddine’s alleged role in a reported transfer of 50 million euros from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime to French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign.
In an article published Monday, French investigative news site Mediapart alleged that Takieddine, who organized Sarkozy's visits to Libya in 2005 and 2007, was the middleman in the murky deal.
But in an interview with FRANCE 24 Monday night, Takieddine vehemently denied the report, dismissing it as “lies” before adding, “none of this happened. There was not one bit of any finance from Libya to France or from Gaddafi to Sarkozy – nothing.”
For many French people, the latest allegation has a familiar ring.
In March 2011, as Sarkozy was spearheading an international campaign to impose a no-fly zone over uprising-hit Libya, Gaddafi’s eldest son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi told Euronews TV that his father had financed Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign. “He’s disappointed us,” said Saif al-Islam before declaring, “Give us back our money.”
The allegation was not taken seriously at that time given the source and the circumstances surrounding the quote.
But when it resurfaced this week, Sarkozy – like Takieddine – vehemently denied the accusation.
In an interview with French TV station TF1 Monday night, Sarkozy said, “It's grotesque and I am sorry that I am being interrogated about declarations of Gaddafi or his son on an important channel like TF1.”
The visibly irate French president then went on to add: “Gaddafi, who is known for talking nonsense, even said that there were cheques. Well then the son should just go ahead and produce them then.”
The Libyan leader was killed in October 2011 and his eldest son in currently being by a rebel militia group in Libya.
For many French people, the latest allegation has a familiar ring.
In March 2011, as Sarkozy was spearheading an international campaign to impose a no-fly zone over uprising-hit Libya, Gaddafi’s eldest son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi told Euronews TV that his father had financed Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign. “He’s disappointed us,” said Saif al-Islam before declaring, “Give us back our money.”
The allegation was not taken seriously at that time given the source and the circumstances surrounding the quote.
But when it resurfaced this week, Sarkozy – like Takieddine – vehemently denied the accusation.
In an interview with French TV station TF1 Monday night, Sarkozy said, “It's grotesque and I am sorry that I am being interrogated about declarations of Gaddafi or his son on an important channel like TF1.”
The visibly irate French president then went on to add: “Gaddafi, who is known for talking nonsense, even said that there were cheques. Well then the son should just go ahead and produce them then.”
The Libyan leader was killed in October 2011 and his eldest son in currently being by a rebel militia group in Libya.
According to the French National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Funding, Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign bill was just under 22 million euros, a figure that has prompted questions about the veracity of Gaddafi’s alleged 50 million euro payment to Sarkozy’s campaign.
In his interview with FRANCE 24, Takieddine blasted the Mediapart site as “the biggest liars that could possibly exist in all of civilisation”.
Friends in high places, services for France
Takieddine was in the FRANCE 24 studios to talk about his recently published book, “L’ami encombrant” which in English means, “The troublesome friend”.
Published just two months ahead of the French presidential election, the book features Takieddine’s accounts of the close links he forged with leading French politicians and officials and the “services” he has performed for France.
In the book, Takieddine discusses his involvement in the high-profile 2007 release of Bulgarian nurses detained in Libya. Sarkozy played a pivotal role in negotiating the release of the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian medic who Gaddafi accused of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV.
In his interview with FRANCE 24, Takieddine said the original plan he worked on went awry when the Gaddafi regime at the last minute demanded a 135 million euro payment to a victims relief fund set up by the Libyan strongman. “This was at the last minute and France didn’t want it because there was already an agreement,” explained Takieddine.
In the end, the issue was resolved when the Qatari government finally guaranteed a 300 million euro payment to the “greedy Libyans,” said Takieddine.
The ‘Karachigate’ plot thickens
For many French readers, Takieddine’s account of his involvement – or lack thereof – in what has come to be called the “Karachigate” scandal will be of special interest ahead of the 2012 presidential election.
In his interview with FRANCE 24, Takieddine blasted the Mediapart site as “the biggest liars that could possibly exist in all of civilisation”.
Friends in high places, services for France
Takieddine was in the FRANCE 24 studios to talk about his recently published book, “L’ami encombrant” which in English means, “The troublesome friend”.
Published just two months ahead of the French presidential election, the book features Takieddine’s accounts of the close links he forged with leading French politicians and officials and the “services” he has performed for France.
In the book, Takieddine discusses his involvement in the high-profile 2007 release of Bulgarian nurses detained in Libya. Sarkozy played a pivotal role in negotiating the release of the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian medic who Gaddafi accused of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV.
In his interview with FRANCE 24, Takieddine said the original plan he worked on went awry when the Gaddafi regime at the last minute demanded a 135 million euro payment to a victims relief fund set up by the Libyan strongman. “This was at the last minute and France didn’t want it because there was already an agreement,” explained Takieddine.
In the end, the issue was resolved when the Qatari government finally guaranteed a 300 million euro payment to the “greedy Libyans,” said Takieddine.
The ‘Karachigate’ plot thickens
For many French readers, Takieddine’s account of his involvement – or lack thereof – in what has come to be called the “Karachigate” scandal will be of special interest ahead of the 2012 presidential election.
A complicated plot involving the 2002 killing of 14 people — including 11 French engineers — in the Pakistani city of Karachi, which involves defence sales, kickback allegations and intermediaries reportedly channelling millions of dollars worth of cash, Karachigate has been making headlines in France over the past few years and has long threatened to implicate Sarkozy.
French media reports as well as some of the families of the Karachi attack victims have suggested that the suicide bombing was in retaliation for scrapped defence commissions.
According to media reports, millions of dollars worth of cash were deposited in the campaign bank account of former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladurwho was running against Jacques Chirac in 1995. Balladur’s campaign manager at that time was Sarkozy. He eventually lost to Chirac.
Media reports say Takieddine was one of two Lebanese-born businessmen who served as intermediaries in the deal.
The case is currently under judicial investigation and Takieddine has been placed under investigation, a legal move in France that is one step short of being charged.
In his interview with FRANCE 24, Takieddine dismissed the attempts to link the 2002 suicide attack in a volatile city like Karachi with a 1995 campaign funding issue.
“Pakistan was a country at war exactly like Afghanistan at that time. Osama bin Laden was already there. Terrorists were already there. France had already sent soldiers to the battlefield in Afghanistan. There was as an antipathy for France in Pakistan like there was for America,” said Takieddine.
But history has a way of catching up with Takieddine and it looks like history might still have a few accounts to settle with the businessman who shuns, but can’t seem to avoid, the spotlight.
French media reports as well as some of the families of the Karachi attack victims have suggested that the suicide bombing was in retaliation for scrapped defence commissions.
According to media reports, millions of dollars worth of cash were deposited in the campaign bank account of former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladurwho was running against Jacques Chirac in 1995. Balladur’s campaign manager at that time was Sarkozy. He eventually lost to Chirac.
Media reports say Takieddine was one of two Lebanese-born businessmen who served as intermediaries in the deal.
The case is currently under judicial investigation and Takieddine has been placed under investigation, a legal move in France that is one step short of being charged.
In his interview with FRANCE 24, Takieddine dismissed the attempts to link the 2002 suicide attack in a volatile city like Karachi with a 1995 campaign funding issue.
“Pakistan was a country at war exactly like Afghanistan at that time. Osama bin Laden was already there. Terrorists were already there. France had already sent soldiers to the battlefield in Afghanistan. There was as an antipathy for France in Pakistan like there was for America,” said Takieddine.
But history has a way of catching up with Takieddine and it looks like history might still have a few accounts to settle with the businessman who shuns, but can’t seem to avoid, the spotlight.
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