LE NOUVEL OBS (France)
PARIS – #trierweilergate, #vaudeville… Hashtags have been flourishing on Twitter since Valérie Trierweiler —French President François Hollande’s girlfriend— posted an unexpected message endorsing the Socialist candidate running against Hollande’s former long-term partner Ségolène Royal in parliamentary elections.
At 11.56AM, Trierweiler (@valtrier) tweeted “Good luck to Olivier Falorni who is a worthy candidate and has been selflessly fighting for years for the people of La Rochelle.” Ouch, zing!
At first, it was believed that a prankster had hacked Trierweiler’s Twitter account, considering the public swipe put her at odds with President Hollande, who has declared his full support for Royal’s electoral bid, Le Nouvel Observateur reports.
But Valérie Trierweiler confirmed her stance to journalists by text message an hour later, triggering scores of comments on the presidential soap opera: “Am wondering whether Family Minister @Dbertinotti should step and do something for @fhollande @valtrier @RoyalSegolene.”