In the French presidential elections, Fran?ois 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 Fran?ois 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，社會黨候選人弗朗索瓦?奧朗德(Fran?ois Hollande)主張征收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，他還利用奧朗德受到的猜疑大做文章——人們懷疑奧朗德會像此前的弗朗索瓦?密特朗(Fran?ois Mitterrand)一樣，出爾反爾。現任總統尼古拉?薩科齊(Nicolas Sarkozy)給人的印象通常是，為了獲得連任，什么樣的話他都說得出。但毫不夸張的說，相對于上面提到的這些競爭者而言，薩科齊算是一名右翼人士。