Sarko is in for a long month

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There’s no relief in sight for French President Nicolas Sarkozy as he braces for yet another political setback. This Sunday, French voters will head to the polls for municipal elections and Sarkozy’s UMP party is likely to get creamed. The last three French presidents have all been former mayors and these elections are a fairly good indicator of the political mood of the country. Incumbent UMP mayors are trailing in opinion polls in Marseille, Toulouse, and Strasbourg. The expected defeats would leave Nice as the only major French city under UMP control. Sarkozy, whose approval rating has now dropped to 38 percent, was embarassingly forced to withdraw support last month for the candidate he had hand-picked to fill his former office in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Sarkozy has appeared at only one campaign rally leading up to the election while still-popular Prime Minister François Fillon has taken the lead in stumping for the UMP. Many prominent UMP candidates have even campaigned without the party’s logo on their Web site and literature.

To add insult to injury, the former Mme. Sarkozy, Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz, is remarrying this month in New York. Hope the staff is treading lightly in the Élysée Palace these days.