Nicolas Sarkozy

French politician who became President of the country on May 6, 2007 as successor to Jacques Chirac. The leader of the conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), he beat his Socialist opponent, Ségolène Royal, by nearly 7 points. Sarkozy is the son of a French mother and Hungarian father who had emigrated to France during the Russian invasion of his homeland in 1944. At age 26 Sarkozy earned his law degree. He served as mayor of Neuilly, an affluent Paris suburb, from 1983 to 2002. Since being elected deputy in 1988, he has held various positions in the government. On May 7, 2002 he became Interior Minister. Under Jacque Chirac he was named Minister of State, the economie and finances on April 1 2004. On November 2004 he was elected to the head of his party (UMP) From 1993-1995 he was the Budget minister; concurrently from 1994-1995 he was the Minster of Communication and. On Janaury 14, 2007 he was declared a presidential candidate. Sarkozy has been married three times. With his first wife whom he married in 1982, he had two sons, Pierre (born 1985) and Jean (born 1987). With his second wife, Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, a former model and public relations exectuive, he had one son, Louis, born April 23, 1997, after their marriage in October 1996. She made news in the US when she claimed that a sore throat prevented her from dining with the Bushes on a trip to Kennebunkport. She was later in the day seen shopping and looking quite well. Reports of their marital problems followed and their divorce was announced on October 18, 2007. A few months later he was seen with model Carla Bruni and they married on February 2, 2008. Cecilia also remarried, this time to Richard Attias in New York City on March 23, 2008. Sarkozy has a certain flair that can be charming but he is also known for having a volatile temper. His biographer, Anita Hausser, labeled him "hyperactive, ambitious, a hard worker who never rests." He wields political power effectively and to his advantage. He has little tolerance for inquiries into his private life, even storming out of a videotaped interview with Leslie Stahl of “60 Minutes” when she began asking about his wife Cecilia after their marital problems had surfaced in the news. Politically he is quite a powerful presence and he speaks his mind no matter who becomes alienated. He even voted against his mentor, Jacques Chirac in 1995 thus causing tension between the formerly close men. The hard-driving politician collapsed while running on July 26, 2009 in Paris. He was hospitalized overnight but doctors found no serious medical problems other than exhaustion and heat fatigue. On 6 May 2012, Sarkozy was defeated in the 2012 election by Socialist François Hollande by a margin of 3.2 percent. In consequence, his term as president ended on 15 May 2012. He and his wife, Carla Bruni, welcomed their first child together, a daughter, born on October 19, 2011 between 7:30 - 8 PM in Paris according to various news reports. Link to Wikipedia biography