Sarkozy accused of using ‘extras’ to pose as supporters

Bosses on sites from other locations had ordered staff to attend. They were
then told to “pretend to work in front of the press,” he said.

In theory, none of them should have been working due to the unusually cold
weather, and the place was deserted shortly after Mr Sarkozy’s departure.

“It’s total nonsense, it’s ludicrous,” said the Elysée.

Management of the construction company in charge of the site “categorically
denied” any stage-management, saying “only the 67 workers working
daily on the site, were present, as well as support staff.”

But a spokesman for the opposition Socialists slammed the visit. “If
correct, this episode says a lot about the relationship with the truth the
outgoing president keeps with the French,” said Claude Bartolone.

“It is proof of his taste for permanent trickery.”

The far-Right National Front wrote: “The workers are abandoning him,
extras will have to do.”

The controversy could not have come at a worse time for Mr Sarkozy, a day
after an Ifop poll placed him behind Marine Le Pen, the National Front
leader, in voting intentions among France’s active workforce.

Miss Le Pen stood to win 24 per cent of the vote, with Mr Sarkozy on 18 per
cent.

François Hollande, the Socialist candidate, was in first place with 27 per
cent.

Mr Sarkozy is still tipped to reach round two in nationwide polls.

This is not the first time the French president has been accused of
stage-managing visits. In September 2009, factory workers at the Faurecia
auto parts company in Normandy said they had been hand-picked to appear
alongside the diminutive leader because they were short.

The Elysée dismissed the reports as “grotesque and absurd”,
despite the fact that staff confirmed they had been selected because they
were “no bigger than the President”.

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