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PARIS (AFP) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing allies hit launched a full-frontal move on his possibleness -- but unavowed -- competition in incoming year's statesmanly election, IMF politico Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Strauss-Kahn's continuance at the helm of the International Monetary Fund in Washington does not officially end until September 2012, individual months after the scheduled fellow of France's vote.

But the French semipolitical concern is buzzing with reflection that the Negro popularly known here as DSK module alter a early end to his tenure and intercommunicate his hat in the ring.

And instrument polls advisable he would win the balloting if he runs.

The rumours had been doing the media rounds for some time, but they intensified terminal hebdomad when his high-profile writer relative told a entrepot that she didn't poverty her 61-year-old relative to do added constituent at the IMF.

The reflection has infuriated Sarkozy's UMP party.

In past days, its leading lights hit launched virulent attacks on Strauss-Kahn, a Socialist past direction rector whom, ironically, Sarkozy backed to embellish IMF chief.

They dismissed the silver-haired IMF politico as a rich "champagne socialist," a Negro who has been absent too long to ease be in contact with France, and a cosmopolitan type who is not "the image of... the author we love."

It was that terminal charge, by the cheater of the UMP in parliament faith Jacob, that most angered Strauss-Kahn's Socialist allies, who saw in it veiled anti-Semitism.

Socialist help Pierre Moscovici said it "resembles a lowercase the bunk of the far-right between the digit concern wars" who utilised such cost to move French person Socialists.

"The correct is play to plant mines," said semipolitical shrink Stephane Rozes.

"This is a warning to DSK to permit him undergo that the effort module be bitter, that anything goes, and to attain him conceive hard before he makes his decision," he said.

Observers feature the correct module not hesitate to ingest Strauss-Kahn's clannish chronicle as a weapon against him. In 2008 he caused a impress at the IMF when it emerged he had had an intimacy with an economist employed there.

Strauss-Kahn's allies feature the ferocity of the attacks exhibit that the IMF honcho is the Socialist politician the correct fears the most.

"Now we undergo that they module ingest the most ignoble of methods to retain power," said help Jean-Marie Le Guen.

Rozes, the semipolitical analyst, said the fact that Sarkozy pushed for Strauss-Kahn to nous the IMF makes it awkward for the correct to move him on economic grounds.

Sarkozy's pick has allowed DSK to strut the concern initiate since 2007 and attain the headlines during the business crisis and in aggregation when the IMF stepped in to recognizance discover debt-laden Ellas and Ireland.

Strauss-Kahn, who is fluent in English and German, won attitude in European circles during his tenure as French direction rector from 1997 to 1999, and has shapely up a estimation as a business-friendly socialist.

But modify if Strauss-Kahn does decide to stand, he module ease hit to compete with other Socialists in the party's US-style "primaries" in Oct that module pick the statesmanly candidate.

Sarkozy's Socialist competition in the 2007 statesmanly polls, Segolene Royal, has already announced she module contend for her party's nomination.

Sarkozy himself has hinted that he module defence for a ordinal constituent but has not formally proclaimed he module be a candidate.

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