Sarkozy outdistanced by Chirac in popularity

How does that old saying go? "What goes around comes around".

You know - where past actions - good or bad - have a habit of coming back to haunt you or perhaps put another way bite you where it hurts most.

Well that's very much how the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, could be feeling right now.

You see, during his time in office - 20 months now - he hasn't been averse to criticising his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, quite openly. Last year for example he went as far as to say "he (Chirac) hadn't governed the country properly".

And earlier this month during his New Year message to parliament, Sarkozy was at it again when he said he would "rather be described as an 'omnipresident' than an idle King" - a none too thinly veiled reference to Chirac's second term as president during which even the most generous political commentator would probably agree, the country hobbled along with very little political direction.

Now it transpires that Chirac is "back in favour" - at least with the French.

According to a poll carried out by the Institut français d'opinion publique (French Institute of Public Opinion, IFOP) Chirac is the second most popular political figure among the French - way ahead of his successor.

All right, so the poll was conducted on behalf of the weekly (glossy) magazine, Paris Match, which is hardly the handbook of political commentary in this country by any stretch of the imagination.

There again the magazine does carry domestic and international news stories as well as a number of lifestyle features, and its front cover and inside pages have been graced on more than one occasion by several current prominent government ministers. So it carries some weight.

Anyway according to the latest poll, Chirac ranks a long, long way ahead of his successor - 26 places to be precise - and just narrowly missed out on the number one slot, which is as usual filled by France's favourite humanitarian and currently the country's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner.

What makes the result even more surprising perhaps is that Chirac has had virtually no media presence over the past couple of months - with the exception of course of that reference made to him by Sarkozy as the "idle king".

In all truth though, Sarkozy probably has little to fear from the unexpected rise in popularity of his predecessor.

At 76 years of age Chirac will not be making any sort of political comeback, although it should be interesting to see how the two men fare at the annual Salon de l'Agriculture (Agricultural show) which opens in Paris next month.

It was the scene of Sarkozy's now infamous response to a man who refused to shake his outstretched hand during a visit to the show; "Casse toi alors, pauvre con."

Just a few days later when Chirac pitched up, the contrast in the reception afforded the two men couldn't have been greater.

While Sarkozy had raced around the event in little more than an hour, Chirac was clearly in his element as he spent almost four hours, eating, drinking chatting with the public and slapping the rumps of some of the fine beasts on display.

Ah nostalgia!

Just for the record, and for the sake of political balance, the Paris Match poll places the current mayor of Paris and one time pretender to the leadership of the opposition Socialist party, Bertrand Delanoë in third place, while Martine Aubry, the party's newly-elected leader is tenth.

Ségolène Royal? Well she's back in 33rd position.

For the full ranking 1-50 click here.