Voting starts and ends on Sunday, yet UMP Party Chairman, Nicholas Sarkozy, has already declared that Prime Minister Raffarin is to blame for the defeat. Isn't it normal to wait until the patient has died before beginning the autopsy?
What on Earth is Sarkozy playing at? In elections and referenda it is only common decency to wait until after the vote before conceding defeat. Jimmy Carter was widely ridiculed for conceding the 1980 election while polling was still open on the West Coast, but Sarkozy has conceded defeat before polling has even begun.
There is only one thing we can conclude: that Sarkozy cares less about the result than who gets the blame for the defeat. A politician who puts his own career ahead of the national interest? Now there's a thought.