In the French presidential elections, François Hollande, the Socialist candidate, who advocates a 75 per cent marginal tax rate, is clearly on the left. But he has been threatened by an opponent further to the left: Jean-Luc Mélenchon, an ex-Trotskyite who has pledged to end globalisation and who trades on suspicions that Mr Hollande, like François Mitterrand before him, will renege on his commitments. Nicolas Sarkozy, the sitting president, often gives the impression that he will say anything to retain office. Nevertheless, he can without abuse of language be described as to the right of these particular contenders.
在法國總統大選中，社會黨候選人法蘭索瓦•歐蘭德(François Hollande)主張徵收75%的邊際稅率，他無疑是一名左翼人士。但一位觀點更加偏左的對手對他構成了威脅，此人就是讓-呂克•梅朗雄(Jean-Luc Mélenchon)。這位前托洛斯基派誓言要終結全球化，他還利用歐蘭德受到的猜疑大做文章——人們懷疑歐蘭德會像先前的弗朗索瓦•密特朗(François Mitterrand)一樣，出爾反爾。現任總統尼古拉•薩科吉(Nicolas Sarkozy)給人的印象通常是，爲了獲得連任，什麼樣的話他都說得出。但毫不誇張的說，相對於上面提到的這些競爭者而言，薩科吉算是一名右翼人士。