France‘s Socialist Party said on Monday it was unlikely its erstwhile star Dominique Strauss-Kahn would enter the 2012 presidential race, despite the weakening of the sex assault case against him in New York.Party spokesman Benoit Hamon said the idea that Srauss-Kahn could now run for the presidency was “the weakest” of all possible scenarios for the former IMF chief’s political future.
He said, however, that if he opted to make a late entry for the Socialists’ October primary, beyond the July 13 deadline for candidates to register, the party leadership would not block it.
“Let’s leave Dominique Strauss-Kahn some breathing space and let him speak once he is ready,” Hamon told a news conference.
Former party leader Martine Aubry said at the weekend that nobody should stand in Strauss-Kahn’s way if he decides to run.
Strauss-Kahn had been tipped as the left’s best chance of defeating conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy in April 2012, but his shock arrest in mid-May on attempted rape charges has meant the Socialists have had to press on without him.
Now, the left’s election plans have been thrown back into turmoil, and public opinion divided, by news late last week that the case against him could unravel due to doubts about his accuser’s credibility — raising the prospect of a political comeback.
Socialists called on Monday for an inquiry into the rush to judgment against Strauss-Kahn, arrested on charges he tried to rape a hotel maid, while Interior Minister Claude Gueant dismissed mutterings of a political plot as “scandalous.”
Strauss-Kahn’s abrupt reversals of fortune have angered French opinion, which broadly saw New York police‘s decision to parade him after his arrest, disheveled and in handcuffs, as trial by media and a gross violations of his rights.
Analysts say the influential center-leftist could choose to try and bolster the Socialists’ election campaign through a backstage role, but note the picture painted of him as a sexual predator could ultimately prove damaging for the party.
A judge released Strauss-Kahn from house arrest on Friday after prosecutors uncovered a pattern of lying by his accuser that they said undermined her credibility. The sex assault charges remain in place.
While five contenders are jostling in France for the Socialist nomination, Strauss-Kahn is confined to the United States ahead of his next court hearing on July 18 hearing.
PUBLIC SPLIT
Opinion polls show voters are deeply divided over whether the former French finance minister could return to politics after the muck-raking that has followed one of the most dramatic political downfalls in history.
Strauss-Kahn’s allies are rallying round him, however.
Celebrity philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy said Strauss-Kahn was the sole victim in the affair and should return to politics.
“There is only one victim, in terms of someone whose life has been shattered. It’s DSK,” Levy told Europe 1 radio, using a popular nickname for Srauss-Kahn. “He’s a man whose life has been trampled on, broken, discredited, degraded.”
Jerome Coumet, Socialist mayor of a central Paris district, said Strauss-Kahn would be vital to securing victory in 2012.
Francois Hollande, the left’s new frontrunner for 2012, told RTL radio there should be an inquiry into possible foul play in the affair.
“There could have been a trap. In life, there can always be somebody who tries to manipulate you, to trap you,” he said.
Socialist deputy Pierre Moscovici, also called for an inquiry to establish whether there had been judicial errors.
An Ipsos survey conducted on July 1 and 2 found 51 percent of those questioned think Strauss-Kahn’s political career is over and only 42 percent think he can return. Among Socialist Party supporters, 57 percent said he could make a comeback.
A Harris Interactive poll out on Sunday found 49 percent of respondents, or 60 percent of Socialist voters, wanted to see him return to politics and 45 percent opposed the idea.
Counting against Strauss-Kahn is the fact the sex assault charges shone a spotlight onto a murky private life that shocked many in France, including allegations by writer Tristane Banon that he made unwanted physical advances to her in 2002.
Banon is still undecided on whether to press charges.
Last week’s news that the New York hotel maid had lied to a grand jury and made other false statements has rekindled mutterings in France of a plot to bring down Strauss-Kahn.
Lawmaker Francois Loncle has hinted at possible links between French interests and hotel chain Accor, which owns the Sofitel in question. Accor on Sunday fiercely denied playing any role in the Strauss-Kahn affair, saying any suggestion to the contrary “could be considered defamatory.”
Socialist Michele Sabban meanwhile has talked darkly of an attempted political assassination.
“What they say is absolutely scandalous,” said Gueant, one of Sarkozy’s closest aides. “These accusations are odious.”
PARIS (Reuters) – By Elizabeth Pineau(Additional reporting by Vicky Buffery and Marc Angrand; Writing by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Jon Boyle)
