Philippe de Villiers
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| Philippe de Villiers | |
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| Assumed office 1994 |
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| Born | March 25, 1949 Boulogne, France |
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| Nationality | France  Lebanon |
| Political party | Mouvement pour la France |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Philippe de Villiers (born Viscount Philippe Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon on March 25, 1949) was the Mouvement pour la France nominee for the French presidential election of 2007.[1] The only major French politician to call for the resoration of the monarchy, he received 2.23% of the vote, putting him in sixth place. As only the top two candidates advance to the second round of voting, he was eliminated from the race.
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[edit] Life
Villiers was born in Boulogne in the département of Vendée, France. He is a French aristocrat and a descendant of Prime Minister and Regent Philippe II, Duc d'Orléans. [2] As of 2007 he is a Member of the European Parliament (Independence/Democracy Group).
In 1981, he resigned his post as sub-prefect because he did not want to serve the government of the socialist president François Mitterrand. In 1986-1987, he briefly served as a junior Minister for Culture (Secrétaire d'Etat auprès du Ministre de la Culture) in the second government of Jacques Chirac.
Once a member of the Union for French Democracy political party, he now leads a party called the Mouvement pour la France, which has enjoyed some success in elections for the European Parliament. The party's share of the vote in the European Parliament election, 2004 declined. Nevertheless, Villiers and two other members of his party were elected.
Villiers is conservative, traditionalist, and a leading eurosceptic. He was a leader of those advocating a No vote in the 2005 French referendum on the European Constitution. The No side won, which constituted a major victory for Euroscepticism. He was the first to use the phrase "Polish Plumber" in a political speech, referring to the perceived threat of cheap East European labour to French wages levels.
He opposes abortion including in case of rape or incest.[3]
[edit] 2007 presidential bid
Villiers ran for the French presidency in 2007, and based his campaign on his opposition to what he sees as the rampant Islamisation of France. In May 2006, polls showed him enjoying the support of about 4% of the electorate, almost twice as high as he actually polled in the first round of the election. An "Ifop-Paris-Match" poll conducted on 12 October 2006 gave him his highest ever popularity rating, with 37% saying they "have an excellent or good opinion" of De Villiers, and 28% saying they could vote for him in 2007. This was not borne out in the results of the first round of voting, with him receiving less than 3% of the popular vote.
Following the first round of the 2007 French Presidential election, he called on voters to vote for UMP candidate Nicolas Sarkozy to counter the Socialist Party's candidate Ségolène Royal and the left.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- (French) Philippe de Villiers - Blog (official)
- (French) MPF official web site
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