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His immigration policies were called racist by some of his opponents. However, his supporters were sufficiently numerous in 2002, propelling him to the [[runoff]] round of the French Presidential election, that [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] felt compelled to court them in the 2007 election by running well to the right of his predecessor [[Jacques Chirac]], who had appointed him [[interior minister]], although Sarkozy's message always emphasized [[economic]] reform, rather than immigration. This strategy paid off; Sarkozy, always a front-runner, defeated [[Socialist]] [[Ségolène Royal]] in the runoff round.

His immigration policies were called racist by some of his opponents. However, his supporters were sufficiently numerous in 2002, propelling him to the [[runoff]] round of the French Presidential election, that [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] felt compelled to court them in the 2007 election by running well to the right of his predecessor [[Jacques Chirac]], who had appointed him [[interior minister]], although Sarkozy's message always emphasized [[economic]] reform, rather than immigration. This strategy paid off; Sarkozy, always a front-runner, defeated [[Socialist]] [[Ségolène Royal]] in the runoff round.

He is also famous for predicting the riots by "oppressed Africans" ([[Muslims]]) that occurred within France for several weeks in October and November 2005.  His supporters, perhaps 10% of the French electorate <ref> http://www.lemonde.fr/web/vi/0,47-0@2-823448,54-899922@51-899913,0.html</ref>, believe that his policies on immigration might have prevented this outbreak of violence caused by a leftist government trying to be too "politically correct".

He is also famous for predicting the riots by "oppressed Africans" ([[Muslims]]) that occurred within France for several weeks in October and November 2005.  His supporters, perhaps 10% of the French electorate <ref>Le Monde [http://www.lemonde.fr/web/vi/0,47-0@2-823448,54-899922@51-899913,0.html]</ref>, believe that his policies on immigration might have prevented this outbreak of violence caused by a leftist government trying to be too "politically correct". That support, for his immigration policy, moved beyond the roughly 10% of the people voting for him when most of his ideas were co-opted by Sarkozy for the run-off election.