[sarkozy] absence remarquée de cécilia sarkozy

At 19:01, the result was: Sarkozy 53,5%, Royal 46,5% and at 21:01, it had shrunk to: Sarkozy 52,7%, Royal 47,3%. This was answered by Bill Cameron in my comments section. He also addressed my next question:

More importantly, where is his wife? Why isn't she with him? Le Figaro said: "Cécilia, épouse de Nicolas Sarkozy, n'a été aperçue nulle part en public aux côtés de son mari au cours de la journée, que ce soit quand il est allé voter, lors de ses traversées de Paris en voiture ou salle Gaveau où il savourait son triomphe."

Bill asked:

Wasn't there some question some months ago of a marital rift, because of an affair he was having? I wonder if their seemingly coming together was merely not to destroy his chances of becoming President. There is a taboo in France about delving into private lives of public figures - a feature I think we in the UK could emulate.

Yes, Bill but it's still a remarkable state of affairs for a wife not to accompany him at the very moment where wives would surely do this. Surely she could have made the agreement take affect the next day and not shown him up on the day of his triumph? It seems churlish in the extreme, very Diana. Supporting this were her own words at another time:

« Je ne me vois pas en first lady. Cela me rase. Je ne suis pas politiquement correcte: je me balade en jean, en treillis ou en santiags. Je ne rentre pas dans le moule. »

She supported him in the first round and then seemed to cease. My feeling is that something remarkable happened after that time. Either she found out about a fresh affair or an old one restarted. Again, it seems more than pointed.

UPDATE: Well, she seems to be with him now:

Nicolas Sarkozy est arrivé en compagnie de son épouse Cécilia, peu avant 23H00, place de la Concorde à Paris, où l'attendaient quelque 10.000 partisans venus fêter sa victoire à la présidentielle.

Does she seem right to you in the photo above? Compare it to this earlier photo to the right, where she's quite actively entering the spirit of the thing.

Well, time to sign off for the night. Congratulations, Sarko.

UPDATE ON OCTOBER 18TH

For some strange reason, this post seems to have become popular on Google so you might like to see these as well:

[france] dishing the dirt on segie and sarko

[segie-sarko debate] style versus substance

[sarkozy] seems to have started well

[la france] cheeky sod, sarko

[l'élection] en larmes, en lambeaux

[cecilia] you're breaking my heart