Claude Guéant's "dildo" voting rules slip-of-the-tongue

Oh don't you just love it when a politician commits a slip-of-the-tongue?

It's especially gratifying when it's a blunder that gives a completely different meaning to what was meant to be said and furthermore comes from someone who doesn't come across as particularly "sympa", as the French would say, or personable.

Claude Guéant (screenshot from Le Post video)

Such was the case this week with the interior minister Claude Guéant.

He has made something of a name for himself since taking office at the end of February primarily for his racist and xenophobic remarks such as the "French no longer felt at home in France" and "France doesn't need foreign bricklayers and waiters".

This time around it was nothing so obnoxious - just a simple blooper which proved that he is human after all.

Guéant was speaking to parliamentarians in the National Assembly and addressing the issue of the Socialist party's primary to choose its candidate in next year's presidential election.

The governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) if which Guéant is a member isn't too happy about the primary on a number of levels.

It'll be open to anyone as long as they register and if it's successful could potentially give the party a momentum heading into next year's election proper.

It also raises the question as to whether there shouldn't be a similar sort of primary for the UMP, especially as the current president, Nicolas Sarkozy, isn't the most popular of political figures and some from his party might be quite happy with an alternative candidate.

So the UMP has been questioning the legality of the Socialist party's primary (along with that of the Europe Écologie - Les Verts party, EELV) on the grounds that drawing up lists of potential participants in the voting process contravenes the law.

But that wasn't quite how it came out of Guéant's mouth as he substituted "code électoral" or the voting rules and process with "gode électoral" or the electoral dildo.

Guéant's gaffe was similar to the one made by the former justice minister and now member of the European parliament Rachida Dati, back in April when, during a television interview, she too managed to muddle "code" and "gode".

Dati has something of a reputation for unintentional sexual innuendo - remember her much-reported "inflation/fellatio" faux pas last year - and admits that she often talks too fast.

Guéant though is a much more dour character and as can be seen from the accompanying video from the French news website Le Post, he was speaking much more deliberately... and from notes.



lapsus: Claude Guéant évoque "le gode" électoral par LePostfr