Great caution among French politicians

If politicians agree that the deeds Strauss-Kahn is accused of are very grave, they all followed the same motto: "Caution", apart from a few exceptions.

Marine Le Pen, for instance, was very straightforward. The head of Front National, the far-right French party, recalled that it was well-known among local journalists and politicians that Strauss-Kahn seemed to have "slightly pathological relations" with women. She went on to say that he was discredited for good as a presidential candidate.

But all politicians primarily required established facts and tried not to get carried away. Jean-Luc Melenchon from the far- left party, Parti de Gauche, called for "reserve". Herve Morin, who leads the French centrist party Nouveau Centre, said he wished that Strauss-Kahn "benefit from the presumption of innocence until the American justice does its job."

French right-wingers chose to wait and see before rejoicing. Having obtained very poor rates in polls for weeks, current French President Sarkozy and his government could indirectly benefit from the Strauss-Kahn scandal.

Strauss-Kahn was seen as "the man to be defeated" in the presidential race.

On Sunday, the presidential spokesmen dismissed to comment on the news. Francois Barouin, the government spokesperson, merely said that "the government follows two simple principles: that of a judicial procedure taking place under the authority of American justice ... and the respect of the presumption of innocence. The aim is to avoid feeding plot rumors."

Indeed, a year before presidential election, no one excluded the hypothesis of a manipulation. Christine Boutin, the leader of Parti Democrate, a right-wing party, clearly denounced such a possibility: "It is most likely that a trap was set for Strauss- Kahn and that he got snared".