'Shock survey' reveals the French would rather have disgraced Strauss-Kahn as president
ALEX WONG/Getty Images
The French do not like their current president, François Hollande, but the person they'd prefer makes us question their sanity. In what's being dubbed a "shock survey," 56 percent said they would like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced former IMF leader who was embroiled in a 2011 sexual assault scandal, to lead the country.
The survey was conducted by newspaper Le Parisien, which decided not to publish the results for "editorial" reasons. One of the questions it asked was whether people were "for or against Strauss-Kahn's return to politics." French broadcaster Radio Info got its hands on the results and remarked how embarrassing they are for Hollande, particularly since he's been trying to distance himself from his fellow Socialist.
In addition to the sexual assault allegation from a hotel maid, which was later settled in a civil lawsuit, Strauss-Kahn was forced to drop his presumed presidential ambitions after being implicated in a prostitution ring.
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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.
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