Chirac Names Iraq Invasion Critic P.M. - AP

By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer
Tue May 31, 5:25 PM ET

PARIS - President Jacques Chirac fired his prime minister Tuesday and built a new government around two men — one an unelected loyalist, the other an ambitious rival —who could one day fight to succeed him as France's leader.

Chirac's unlikely and potentially explosive pairing of Dominique de Villepin and Nicolas Sarkozy was a measure of the crisis Sunday's humiliating referendum defeat caused to his 10-year presidency.

The reply from voters — a strong "Non!" — was as much a repudiation of Chirac's domestic policies as it was a refusal of the proposed European Union constitution.

Villepin and Sarkozy are unnatural allies. Just last week, in thinly veiled criticism, Sarkozy said only people who have held elected office "have the right to speak in the name of France."

Villepin, 51, is a long-trusted aide who, as foreign minister from 2002-2004, passionately made France's case against the Iraq war. His political weakness is that he has never been elected to office. Chirac named him prime minister, promoting him from the Interior Ministry to replace the unpopular Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

The rest of the story