François Hollande: the decline of a ‘normal’ president

Unhappy electors forced the head of state to entrust his government to a potential rival more popular than he.

May 6, 2012: François Hollande is elected president of the French Republic with 51.64% of the vote, the only Socialist – besides François Mitterrand – to attain an office the French view as more of a monarchic than political position.

This friendly and reassuring man whose aspiration is to become a ‘normal president’ ousts the (overly) effervescent Nicolas Sarkozy. Less than two years later, March 30, 2014 marks the second round of local elections: the Socialist Party suffers a historic drubbing.

It is vanquished in 150 municipalities with populations of 10,000 or more, while Hollande’s popularity plummets to a record low. None of his predecessors had ever sunk to as little as an 18% rating in opinion polls.

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