Might a parliamentary majority be a handicap for Mr Sarkozy?

As a large right-wing victory is predicted for the French legislative elections, the first round of which will be this Sunday, June 10th, the editorialist Françoise Fressoz considers that "if the executive can suffer from too narrow a majority, it is never happy with too large a majority. For, the bigger number of elected representatives there are, the bigger the potential is for frustrated people. For each faithful follower rewarded with a key post (presidents and chairpersons of the Assembly, of groups, of commissions), how many disappointed people are left ruminating and sometimes even conspiring? ... But most difficult in the case of a strong majority, is maintaining ideological control over the troops. The more a camp wins the more arrogant it becomes, the less apt to understand that a president is the representative of all French people and not just a majority. ... Sound advice for the president would thus be, alright for a majority, but above all not too big!"

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