Before the final round of the presidential elections in France only three months, but this election race has already proved to be more dirty than last year’s race in the United States. The three main presidential candidates — the independent centre-left Emmanuel macron (Emmanuel Macron), right centrist Francois Fillon (Francois Fillon) and the nationalist populist marine Le Pen (Marine Le Pen) — faced with accusations of financial fraud.
French voters are pretty cynical about their politicians. Last summer, a study commissioned by the French branch of Transparency International showed that 54% of the French political elite believe their country is corrupt — for the most part. If we are talking about the policies of local and pan-European level, as well as about the President and the national government, this figure has reached approximately 75%. Scandals have long been a familiar part of everyday life, so they are unlikely to significantly affect the outcome of elections. However, the performance is already in full swing.
Earlier this week, Fillon said that he will continue to fight for the presidency, despite the publication of what he paid members of his family about a million dollars from the parliamentary budget for the services, according to his opponents, never was voiced. Every day comes a new scandalous details: Fillon paid to his wife Penelope, a significant severance, dismissing her from the post of his assistant; he hired his sons for the provision of legal services, although they were not qualified lawyers; he paid them more money than you usually get aides of parliamentarians. And we are talking about the same man who presented himself as a moral candidate, trying to use against its rivals Nicolas Sarkozy and Alain Juppe (Alain Juppe) surrounding their financial scandals. Fillon said he regretted his actions but added that it was all done legally (in France, a really pretty and soft laws against nepotism) and was considered common practice at the time. 65% of French voters are not satisfied with this explanation.
Fillon, whose rating suffered greatly as a result of the scandal with his wife and children, now observe utmost discretion in the matter of compliance with laws on campaign Finance. In the end, Sarkozy had to answer before the court for violations of Finance laws during his failed election campaign of 2012, and Fillon is not ready to face yet another scandal.
Le Pen forced to solve their own ethical problems. The main one comes from Brussels, where she is also accused in the payment of fake assistants of parliamentarians. Le Pen — member of the European Parliament, and her monthly allocate 24 164 Euro for payment for services of the state of her aides. These people must work programs of the European Union and live in Brussels, but, according to the findings of an investigation conducted by the European Parliament, Le Pen and other lawmakers from her party, the national front used the money to pay the people working on this party in France. The European Parliament tries to return about half a million euros from the parliamentary group, which includes Le Pen and other members of her party is a very large amount for Le Pen, given the financial difficulties of the “National front”. Now Le Pen has filed a lawsuit at the European Parliament, stating that this investigation was initiated by her political enemy, a German social Democrat and former speaker Martin Schulz (Martin Schulz).
Le Pen may face difficulties in France, given how the front national has funded his previous campaign. The party had dealings with the companies belonging to close friends of Le Pen, who were engaged in the printing of campaign materials and creation of web sites, paid for their services at inflated rates, and then forced the government to reimburse — it is obliged to do it, if the party manages to step over a certain threshold. “National front” also took out costly loans from a tiny party Jeanne created by Le Pen, and reimbursed them with funds from the state Treasury after the end of the campaign. Le Pen was not charged with any allegations of financial wrongdoing, it is even not questioned, but the elections are still a lot of time to do it. Long enough and in order to inflate the scandal of asset declarations of Le Pen and her father, the founder of the “National front” Jean-Mari Le Foam (Jean-Marie Le Pen). Now in respect of them under investigation on suspicion of undervaluation of the property specified in their declarations.
Even macron, who is a novice in politics and had only a short time to stay by the Minister of economy, was under suspicion. In one recent book accused him of using the Ministry to start his presidential campaign. He and other government officials strongly deny the allegations, and the investigation against him is not conducted, however, the enemies of the Macron will be able to find incriminating information.
Sometimes the attacks are of a personal nature. Macron is married to his high school French teacher, which is 24 years older than him, but his opponents repeatedly hinted that he might be gay. Last year Sarkozy said Makron “little man, little woman, as it is now fashionable — “androgynous””. Now against him began a dirty campaign through e-newsletters and social networking in the framework of which he is accused of having links with a man. Edition Closer publishing sensational material and is famous for the fact that it exposed the relationship between the President Francois Hollande (Francois Hollande) with actress Julie Gaye (Julie Gayet), posted a rather controversial article about the Macron, which was later removed from the site.
Macron tried to dismiss all these rumors, he quipped that his wife Brigitte wonders how he can lead a double life if he is constantly with her. It is worth noting that in a country where political culture is dominated by strong men and there are almost no politicians who openly declare their homosexuality, this former banker has managed to respond to rumors about themselves, not putting themselves homophobic. Yet, rating it ahead of Le Pen.
To date, the flow of dirt has affected the Fillon — perhaps this is due to the virtuous image that he tried to ascribe to themselves until information surfaced about cash payments to his family. Eurosceptic Le Pen may ultimately even a little to win as a result of its quarrel with the Parliament: so far its the usual defense tactics — corrupt cosmopolitan elite against it — brought good results. As Americans have realized on the example of Donald trump, allegations of corruption in the address of the nationalist candidate can lead to the opposite result. Le Pen consolidates its position, playing the role of Joan of Arc in different videos.
Most likely, candidates will pour more than one bucket of dirt until the vote, and the French intelligence service expects that Russia will try to support the candidacy of Le Pen, have compromised its opponents with the help of social networks. French voters will have to use its reserves of cynicism, and international observers should be reserved for a big bowl of popcorn.
