French elections: More sex please, we're extremists

Everything in France is political, even sex. Hot Video may not be the best-known political magazine in France but it has found an intriguing slant on next month's elections. President Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right supporters have less sex than voters for his Socialist rival, François Hollande, the magazine reports.

It has also uncovered a paradox that could explain why so many French voters are attracted to extremes. The most sexually active – but also the most sexually frustrated – voters tend to support the anti-capitalist parties of the hard left and the xenophobic parties of the far right, Hot Video says.

Supporters of the far-right National Front led by Marine Le Pen are the most sexually active voters in France, averaging eight sexual encounters a month and 10 sexual partners over their lives. Backers of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the extreme leftist, are slightly less active, with 7.7 encounters a month and nine partners. The figures come from a poll of 1,400 voters conducted for Hot Video by Ifop, a highly reputable polling organisation.

François Kraus of Ifop told The Independent on Sunday: "Voters of the extreme parties may have more sex and more partners, but they seem to have less stable relationships – which may explain why they are also frustrated and angry in their politics."