FRANCE: Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn would have no choice but to return to political life if he regains popular support in France, biographer says

Record ID: 785261

  • Title: FRANCE: Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn would have no choice but to return to political life if he regains popular support in France, biographer says
  • Date: 8th July 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (French) JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR MICHEL TAUBMANN SAYING: "But what will be determine Strauss-Kahn's potential comeback to the presidential race, is the the polls. If he starts being tested in the polls, not right away because the judicial case has to be over, but at the end of August or beginning of September, and if one starts to notice that he is very high in the polls, he will be pushed into the presidential race. So I really think that the opinion of the French people will in the end make the decision, and despite his own doubts, if the French people overwhelmingly vote in favour of him, he won't be able not to come back."
  • Embargoed: 23rd July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Arts,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4FFS8XPYH2LZXAFE69M2GAHGN
  • Story Text: Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will have no choice but to return to French political life if he is cleared by the U.S. courts and draws favourable support from a centre-left electorate in search of a champion for next year's presidential elections, his biographer said in an interview on Thursday (July 7).
    Author Michel Taubmann said there was a good chance that Strauss-Kahn, who French media expect to be cleared of charges of sexually assaulting a New York hotel chambermaid last month, could also emerge unscathed from accusations of sexual assault in France.
    Writer Tristane Banon this week lodged an official complaint alleging attempted rape by Strauss-Kahn in 2003. But legal commentators say that in the absence of any compelling evidence that case against him might be dropped too after an initial investigation by prosecutors.
    That would pave the way clear for Strauss-Kahn to return, or rather be dragged back into politics, Taubmann said. If not as presidential candidate, as a powerful ally to one of the several contenders for the Socialist ticket -- few of whom share the charisma of the man known in France as 'DSK'.
    "If the Tristane Banon case closed fast enough, nothing legally will stop him returning to politics," he said.
    "I can tell you that public opinion changes a lot from day to day. On May 10th, Dominique Strauss-Khan was the pollsters' favourite, the man representing wisdom, strength, and competence. A few days later he was shown like a sort of lecher or a wild animal. Now, he appears like a man who is very solid and courageous, who was the victim of a terrible unfairness or even a victim of a trap. So French people will change the way they see him."
    Tabumann's biography 'The Real Novel of Strauss Kahn' was published barely 10 days before the head of IMF was accused of sexual assault in an hotel of Manhattan and at a time when Strauss-Khan was considered a leading contender to become the Socialist candidate in France's 2012 presidential election.
    Strauss-Kahn's potential political comeback will depend on the polls, Taubmann said.
    "If he starts being tested in the polls, not right away because the judicial case has to be over, but at the end of August or beginning of September, and if one starts to notice that he is very high in the polls, he will be pushed into the presidential race," he said.
    Taubmann spent two years researching Strauss-Kahn, interviewing his family, friends and associates. He says there were two previous occasions when Strauss Kahn thought his political career was over: in 1999 when he was investigated and subsequently cleared in a political financing scandal -- and again in 2008, following his affair with a Hungarian economist at the IMF.
    Taubmann is one of the few people who has had direct contact with Strauss-Kahn following the fateful May weekend when millions of French voters watched the man they expected to become the next French president being hauled long in handcuffs between two New York policemen.
    "He could not talk about the case. I wanted him to tell me about his story," he said.
    "But really, what struck me, was his will to prove his innocence."
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