Nothing out of the ordinary. De Villepin was probably the safest successor to Raffarin that Chirac could find. Sarkozy would be too much of a gamble and might cause Chirac to lose alot of power inside his party and the government. Still I don't think this will help any of Mr. Chirac's problems.
I completely agree. Sarkozy is extremely popular, probably the most popular conservative in France. Villepin, on the other hand, is not particularly well-liked among conservatives, particularly because of the disastrous results of the 1997 election.
