Intellectuals Unite Against France’s Sarkozy
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
PARIS — Leading French artists and scientists warned yesterday that their country risks waging a “war with itself” if Nicolas Sarkozy becomes president.
In a bid to demonize the leader of the UMP Party, who has been consistently ahead of his Socialist Party rival, Segolene Royal, in the polls, left-leaning luminaries of the French arts, including the actress Jeanne Moreau and the film director Francois Ozon, warned that Mr. Sarkozy’s election could lead to civil unrest. An open letter to the press spoke of “a real danger of seeing power confiscated by a caste.”
Ahead of the second and final round of voting on Sunday both candidates are preparing for a televised debate tomorrow night with a predicted audience of 20 million. An employee of the state television station France 2 was reported to have been sacked after English-language subtitles accompanying an appeal by Mr. Sarkozy to voters was translated as a call for them to “to rally my inflated ego.”
