Eastenders comes to Paris

Britain has its helping of Eastenders and Coronation Street and the United States has (among others) daily dollops of General Hospital and Days of our Lives. Even Germany has its weekly wonders of Lindenstrasse. But stand aside perennial favourites, over here in France they’ve come up with a scriptwriter’s dream.

It’s the most staggering political soapbox imaginable in the form of the race to be mayor of the swanky Parisian suburb of Neuilly. The stuff to grace the front pages of all the tabloids and a storyline that almost beggars belief. But astonishingly it’s all true.

So hold on to your hats, this is one whirlwind of a story quite befitting of its “author”, none other than the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. Yes him again.

Municipal elections take place in France in March. Nope, not the most gripping reading it has to be admitted. But – and there’s a big BUT, Sarkozy has turned one potentially dull local affair into headline news.

It’s all taking place in the terribly staid, blue-rinse and fur coat stronghold of Neuilly-sur-Seine, For donkeys years, well from 1983-2002, it was Sarkozy’s own person fiefdom and he spent many a happy day ensconced in the town hall, politicking to his heart’s content.

With not the slightest touch of arrogance, he decided that his centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement or UMP) party’s candidate for the upcoming mayoral vacancy should be, not his long time number two in Neuilly and party stalwart, Arnaud Teullé, but the young and fiercely ambitious, David Martinon.

Now, Martinon – a close friend of the now former never-really-fancied-the-idea-of-being First Lady, Cecilia, just happens to be Sarkozy’s official spokesman at the presidential palace, the Elysée. And the clear parachuting of an outsider over and above dedicated local politicians ruffled more than a few ostrich feathers and shimmering chignons.

So much so that one non-aligned centre-right politician decided he would run in opposition to the official UMP candidate, and so was born the campaign of the until now virtually unknown Jean-Christophe Fromantin.

Martinon has been wobbling in the polls for some time now, not helped much by the Blue Rinsers running a “Martinon, non, non” push in the press, and not even the efforts of the presidential prodigal, Jean, could prevent the inevitable from happening last weekend when the Elysée spokesman finally threw in the towel and withdrew from the race. Mind you that only happened after both Sarkozy jnr (Jean) and Teullé had publicly criticised the way he had conducted his campaign. So much for party unity.

So back to the drawing board and a crisis meeting followed at the local UMP offices who looked all set to nominate the ever-faithful (back-stabbing) Teullé as their candidate. But at the last-minute a directive came from the national UMP committee deciding that the previously “dissident” Fromantin should have their backing.

But the story clearly and really ain’t over until the Fat Lady finishes warbling and so into the running came a new dissident in the form of a mightily cheesed-off Teullé, who has now decided he’ll run against the person his party wants to see become mayor.

And of course Fromantin, still riding high in those polls, is not actually a member of the UMP.

You would be forgiven for thinking that it’s a right Laurel and Hardy of a mess, because that’s exactly what it is. And the source of the “cacophony”, as he has termed it, is none other than the president himself.

The only sure bet, in a town where a centre-right candidate is a shoe-in for elected office, is that the next mayor will not come from the ranks of the Socialist party.

Meanwhile there are murmurings from one of the Paris wards that a similar internal rebel campaign might be launched against a much bigger parachuted Sarkozy buddy, the justice minister, Rachida Dati.

The local elections could prove to be more interesting than ever imagined and the headline writers might have a field day.