Seventy per cent of French disapprove of Hollande’s presidency, says poll

A new poll published on Thursday suggests that seventy percent of French people believe outgoing François Hollande was a “bad president”.

Seventy per cent of the French say François Hollande was a bad President, according to a new poll which was published on Reuters

The 62-year-old decided not to seek re-election in December, bowing to the catastrophic approval ratings that showed just four percent of the population approved of him at one point.

His five-year term has been marked by a series of terror attacks, stubbornly high unemployment and revelations about his private life that saw him photographed cheating on his partner in January 2014.

Although 70 percent of respondents told pollster Odoxo they viewed him as a bad president, the survey of 1,001 people taken at the start of April showed parts of his legacy are seen positively.

A majority (54 percent) judged his security policies and social reforms such as bringing in gay marriage favourably, but on the economy, only 16 percent approved of his approach.

Dupont-Aignan criticizes cancellation of third debate

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan criticised the leading Presidential candidates Marine Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron, François Fillon and Jean-Luc Mélenchon for ‘abandoning’ the third televised debate which was scheduled for April 20 on France 2.

“(The broadcaster) France Television had done everything sincerely. Except for Hamon who wanted the debate, the remaining top candidates do not want to argue, nor do they want to answer questions,” Dupont-Aignan said.

France 2 cancelled the debate following objections by the leading candidates of having another debate just three days before the first round of voting.

Sapin to vote for Hamon

The French economy minister Michel Sapin announced he will vote for the Socialist Party candidate Benoit Hamon for the first round of the presidential election.

He said he was supporting Hamon’s candidacy because of his loyalty towards the Socialist Party and not for the ideas that Hamon is defending in his campaign.

- with AFP