Sarkozy son gets elected to business board

FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy’s son was elected to the board of the organisation that runs France’s most important business district yesterday — following a dramatic withdrawal of his bid for the top spot amid accusations of favouritism.

The 23-year-old Jean Sarkozy had been the leading candidate to head EPAD, a quasi-governmental organisation overseeing real estate and the administration of La Défense, the neighbourhood of skyscrapers west of Paris that is home to top companies and the workplace of 150,000 people. He withdrew that bid on Thursday night after two weeks of cries of favouritism and his vows not to back down.

The 45-member board — 30 of whom hail from the French president’s conservative UMP party or its allies — voted, as expected, to give him a spot on the board of directors. He will fill the seat of a member who stepped down in October.

Current EPAD president Patrick Devedjian, forced to retire at 65, saluted the “responsible and dignified decision” of Jean Sarkozy, who has not yet finished law school, to withdraw from the running to replace him.

The young Sarkozy’s surprise withdrawal ahead of the December 4 vote drew salutes of “courage” from the president’s camps and sighs of relief from detractors.

However, the whiff of nepotism was threatening to damage his powerful father, and it was not immediately clear whether the incident would leave the French president unscathed. Even within Sarkozy’s party, voices of dissent had risen.