Sarkozy gives the secret hand-signal of the elite. A hint of rouge would bring those cheekbones up nicely
By Henry Samuel in Paris
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France spent 35,000 euros (£26,200) on make-up to woo the French electorate in last year’s presidential elections, French auditors have discovered.
A commission looking into the expenses of last year’s presidential candidates was reportedly shocked to discover that Mr Sarkozy, recently blasted as “narcissistic” by the Socialist opposition, had spent in some cases 450 euros an hour on face and hair make-overs.
His defeated rival, Ségolène Royal, spent even more, however, reaching 52,000 euros for make-up and hairdressing.
The commission spent six months looking at all the candidate’s expenses to decide how much they should be reimbursed by the state.
Judging that the sums were “manifestly excessive” for an activity that was “normally of a personal nature”, it only paid back 12,000 euros to Mr Sarkozy and 17,000 euros to Miss Royal.
The figures are likely to shock the French public at a time when the country is obsessed with falling purchasing power.
The Socialist, who is gunning to take over her party, was also refused reimbursement for the 53,500 euros she spent on electronic bugging detectors for her campaign headquarters. Miss Royal’s team had accused Mr Sarkozy, the former interior minister, of getting domestic intelligence services to track its members.
In all, the commission decided to reimburse roughly half of the 21 million euros the two candidates each spent on their campaigns.
The far-Right Front National leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was denied reimbursement for the 157,000 euros he spent on a reception for party militants.
L’Express magazine worked out that the most expensive candidate per vote won was communist leader Marie-George Buffet. She spent 6.81 euros per vote compared to 1.83 euros for Mr Sarkozy.
The lowest ratio went to Trotskyite postman Olivier Besancenot, at 0.61 euros per vote.
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