FRANCE: Socialist candidate Francois Hollande hammers President Nicolas Sarkozy over his record on employment during trip to factory in the North

Record ID: 346568

  • Title: FRANCE: Socialist candidate Francois Hollande hammers President Nicolas Sarkozy over his record on employment during trip to factory in the North
  • Date: 25th April 2012
  • Summary: HIRSON, FRANCE (APRIL 24, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS OF SOCIALIST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FRANCOIS HOLLANDE GATHERED IN FRONT OF FACTORY VARIOUS OF HOLLANDE ARRIVING SURROUNDED BY MEDIA HOLLANDE WALKING ONTO STAGE VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS HOLDING UMBRELLAS, STANDING IN THE RAIN HOLLANDE SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (French) SOCIALIST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FRANCOIS HOLLANDE SAYING: "Here, the supporters, sympathizers, citizens have only their job as their wealth. There is no difference between real work and fake work. Over here, we work. And when we don't work, we want to work, we ask for work. The candidate who wanted to be the candidate of true work is the candidate of true unemployment for the last five years." SUPPORTERS GATHERED IN THE RAIN HOLLANDE SPEAKING SUPPORTERS GATHERED
  • Embargoed: 10th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACZ1386RS3EPCL3SDTH1F12N7X
  • Story Text: Francois Hollande, the Socialist frontrunner for next month's presidential election, on Tuesday (April 24) took his campaign to a factory in northern France where he slammed President Nicolas Sarkozy for what he said wias his poor record on employment.
    Speaking two days after the French electorate handed him the coveted first place position in the first round presidential ballot, Hollande told a rally nearby that only he could restore hopes for fuller employment, slamming Sarkozy's call for a "real workers" day rally on May 1 in a bid to upstage simultaneous events held by Hollande, the FN and trade unions.
    "Here, the supporters, sympathizers, citizens have only their job as their wealth. There is no difference between real work and fake work. Over here, we work. And when we don't work, we want to work, we ask for work. The candidate who wanted to be the candidate of true work is the candidate of true unemployment for the last five years," he said.
    Both candidates are now scrambling to seduce nearly a fifth of the electorate that voted for far right anti-immigration crusader Marine Le Pen, voicing sympathy for voters' distress in the economic crisis.
    Hollande can count on the vast majority of the 11.1 percent of votes that went to the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon in Sunday's ballot to help prop him up in the second round. But that will not be enough to guarantee victory.
    He can also draw on a powerful anti-Sarkozy vote which may see voters who are not traditional Socialist supporters throwing their weight behind Hollande. Many in the French electorate have been turned off Sarkozy by his somewhat flashy style and by his failure to drag France from the economic doldrums.
    The first opinion poll to be taken since Sunday's first round by the Ifop institute showed Hollande 10 points ahead of Sarkozy with 55 percent of voting intentions for the runoff.
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