APRIL (the major association promoting, since 1996, Free Software in the French area) launched on January, 2007 30th the Candidats.fr initiative. APRIL wishes that through Candidats.fr Free Software and digital rights will become a major theme for the French presidential campaign, but also for the 2007 legislative campaign.

The Candidats.fr website proposes blurbs, a questionnaire (In French) to French presidential candidates and concrete propositions (In French) about topics like Free Software, patentability, DRM, interoperability, treacherous computing, electronic administration, education, tying sales methods.

Two days before the election, eight out of 12 candidates have responded, include the major candidates: Ségolène Royal of the Socialist Party, François Bayrou of the Union for French Democracy and Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for a Popular Movement.

English people read on linux.com a good summary of the responses received : « French presidential candidates on free software, related issues »