François Hollande scored a
decisive victory in the French presidential election last night and now has
seven weeks to persuade the world that it can live with the new, Socialist face
of France.
President Nicolas Sarkozy
became only the second incumbent in a half century to be booted out of the
Elys&eeacute;e Palace. In a humiliating disavowal of his erratic behaviour
and record in office, and his use of divisive Far Right themes to avoid defeat,
52 per cent of French voters chose to entrust their destiny to the moderate but
inexperienced Mr Hollande.
The President-elect told a
cheering crowd in his rural fiefdom of Tulle in south west France last night
that he wanted to be judged on his capacity to revive the "French
dream". This meant, he said, "fairness to all", opportunities
for "the young" and "better lives, from one generation to the
next"."Europe is looking at
us," he said. "In many European countries this victory will be
received with relief and hope...as a sign that the austerity-only approach to
the crisis is not inevitable."
He likes to call himself
"Mr. Normal," which is a decided change from the many other epithets,
like "Marshmallow man," that have been tossed his way over the years.
Early life and background
Hollande was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime,
Upper Normandy, to a middle-class family. His mother, Nicole Frédérique
Marguerite Tribert (1927–2009), was a social worker, and his father, Georges
Gustave Hollande, an ear, nose, and throat doctor who "had once run for
the extreme right in local politics".The surname "Hollande" is
"believed to come from Calvinist ancestors who escaped Holland (the
Netherlands) in the 16th century and took the name of their old
country."Hollande was raised Catholic.
Education
He attended Saint
Jean-Baptiste de La Salle boarding school, then HEC Paris, École nationale
d'administration, and the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Paris
Institute of Political Studies). He graduated from ENA in 1980.He lived in the
United States in the summer of 1974 while he was a university
student.Immediately after graduating, he was employed to work as a councillor
in the Court of Audit.
Let's hope he brings peace and prosperity in France.
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