Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s political supporters have hailed the end of a “nightmare” and proclaimed that their hero could make a triumphant return home, possibly in time to run for the French presidency.
The disclosure that the case against the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund might collapse strengthened their suspicions that he was trapped by foes in France and America.
Exultation at the change in his fortunes and anger that he had been prosecuted at all were tempered by anxiety about the harm done to his presidential chances. Philippe Goulliaud, editor of Le Figaro, said Mr Strauss-Kahn would return like the Count of Monte Cristo, to punish those responsible for “dragging him through the mud”.
Julien Dray, a Socialist MP wrongly accused of corruption in 2009, said Mr Strauss-Kahn had been the victim of a “global media lynching” and added: “When you come out the other side, you want to chew up the world — I know the feeling.”
Others observers said that after his New York ordeal he may no longer want to be a candidate. If he did, it would require a special arrangement by his party, the Socialists, because its list of primary candidates closes on July 13, and he is unlikely to be free of the US investigation by then.
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Such an extension appeared to be gaining support yesterday, although initially ruled out by party officials. It was backed by leading figures including Michéle Sabban and François Hollande, himself a candidate.
While they claimed the party would accept him, others said the electorate might not. Although French voters are tolerant of sexual peccadillos, Mr Strauss-Kahn’s critics said that even if his contact with the hotel chambermaid was consensual, her lawyer’s graphic allegations that he had been violent made a comeback impossible.
Some saw it as no obstacle, but critics doubted his electoral welcome.
Jean-Louis Borloo, a former Environment Minister who is likely to stand for the presidency as a centrist candidate, said: “What is to stop him coming back if he has the strength and the desire?”
Bernard Debré, a centre-right MP who had criticised Mr Strauss-Kahn as a sexual predator following his arrest, agreed that he could now run for the presidency. “But I am not quite sure that the Socialists want that, or the French either. It would surprise me. We know that he had sexual relations with the chambermaid because there is a DNA sample. Those are the facts. Are the French prepared to accept them?”
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Mr Strauss-Kahn’s friends denounced the lurid publicity in the US.
“Right from the start, I warned people against the way the American media and judicial system gets carried away,” said André Vallini, an MP.
“Presumption of innocence, decency and restraint are principles which ought to have been respected,” said Harlem Désir, first secretary of the Socialist Party.
Amid the relief, the conspiracy theories that have been swirling around Paris since Mr Strauss-Kahn’s arrest in May gained momentum.
One theory blames a gold-digging hotel worker. A second says President Sarkozy wanted to eliminate a rival from the election next year. A third blames financiers opposed to the IMF’s handling of the European debt crisis under his management.
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Mrs Sabban, who has always maintained that Machiavellian forces have been at work, suggested that the whole episode had been organised to ensure Mr Strauss-Kahn’s replacement by Christine Lagarde, the French Finance Minister, at the IMF.
She pointed out that cracks in the prosecution case were made public just two days after Mrs Lagarde’s appointment and said the timing meant that a “manipulation becomes plausible”.
Guy Delcourt, the Mayor of Lens in northern France, said flaws in the prosecution case had been covered up, and he implied it was a plot to force Mr Strauss-Kahn’s resignation from the IMF. “Why did so much time elapse?” he asked.