ABSTRACT
The 1995 contest for the presidency was between the Rassemblement pour la Republique leader, Jacques Chirac, and his former colleague, Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. This chapter discusses the right’s return to power in the National Assembly elections of 1993 and the circumstances surrounding the nomination of Edouard Balladur rather than Jacques Chirac as Prime Minister. It looks at the effects of this upon the relationship between the two men and the fortunes of each as potential candidates for the presidency. The chapter also discusses the relational aspect of their status in each of the years 1993, 1994 and 1995 as the campaign for the presidency began, and then looks at the political context, particularly that of the Socialist Party’s candidate selection and its significance for the rivalry between Balladur and Chirac. It examines the campaign itself and draws conclusions regarding the wider significance for presidential politics of the period 1993–1995.
