One to watch - 12/05/2009
Rachida Dati, France
By Fiachra Gibbons/RFI
If political careers were measured by the number of magazines covers you make, Rachida Dati, France's glamorous justice minister, would have long ago reached the pinnacle of power. The star of Nicolas Sarkozy's rainbow cabinet, in which four members of France's visible minorities were made ministers, she went from media darling to scapegoat in less than 18 months.
Embarrassed by her authoritarian style and gift for rubbing people up the wrong way, Sarkozy effectively forced her out of her ministry as she was giving birth to her daughter Zohra.
Further embarrassment followed when Dati, the daughter of north African immigrants, refused to say who the father was. Her consolation prize was second place on his UMP list for the European elections, which virtually guarantees her a seat in the parliament.
Dati doesn't, however, seem to have taken the move to Brussels terribly seriously, giggling at questions on policy at a recent party convention.
Other candidates to watch:
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Anonymous
- 07/05/2009
tyi