French elections

[TexasTiger 13,016]

Interesting...

Close This Window

Sarkozy elected French president

Sun May 6, 2007 2:15 PM ET

By Crispian Balmer

PARIS (Reuters) - Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy won France's presidential election on Sunday, beating his Socialist rival Segolene Royal by a comfortable margin and extending the right's 12-year grip on power.

Within minutes of polls closing, Royal conceded defeat in a speech to party faithful in the heart of Paris.

"I hope that the next president of the republic fulfils his role in the service of all French people," she said.

Forecasts by four pollsters showed Sarkozy, 52, a hard-line former interior minister, won around 53 percent of the vote in the second-round ballot and will succeed fellow conservative Jacques Chirac, who was president for 12 years.

Turnout was predicted at about 85 percent.

Sarkozy's face flashed up on television screens after polling stations closed at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT), signaling his victory and setting off jubilant scenes among supporters gathered in central Paris.

Across the city at Socialist headquarters there was gloom and sorrow after the party crashed to its third consecutive presidential election defeat. It now faces the prospect of tough internal reform to make itself more appealing to voters.

Although opinion polls regularly suggested voters preferred Royal, who was seeking to become France's first woman head of state, they saw the uncompromising Sarkozy as a more competent leader with a more convincing economic program.

Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, presented himself as the "candidate of work", promising to loosen the 35-hour work week by offering tax breaks on overtime and to trim fat from the public service, cut taxes and wage war on unemployment.

He is expected to take office on May 16 or 17, and will be the first French president to be born after World War Two.

He will then name a new government and immediately launch into campaigning for June's parliamentary election, where he will seek a clear majority to implement his reform plans.

The president is elected for five years, is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, nominates the prime minister, has the right to dissolve the National Assembly and is responsible for foreign and defense policies.

ROYAL GAFFES

Royal started the year as favorite, but a string of gaffes over foreign policy raised doubts over her competency. Deep ideological divisions in her own camp meant she could never enjoy unified support from the Socialists.

She served up a gutsy performance in a television debate with Sarkozy last week, but he appeared more precise and controlled, further strengthening his status as front-runner.

Sarkozy's own personality has been questioned. Critics say he is impulsive, authoritarian and likely to exacerbate tensions in the poor, multi-racial suburbs that ring many French cities.

The Socialists accused Sarkozy of fuelling 2005 suburb riots by promising to rid neighborhoods of what he said were the "scum" responsible for the troubles. Royal said on Friday a victory for her rival would fan "violence and brutality".

Thousands of extra police have been drafted in to patrol sensitive suburbs, especially those close to Paris.

By backing Sarkozy, voters showed they wanted a strong leader to resolve France's many problems, including high unemployment of at least 8.3 percent, falling living standards, job insecurity and declining industrial might.

He has promised a clean break with the policies of Chirac, once his political mentor, and says he will curb the powers of the unions and toughen sentencing for criminals.

On foreign policy, Sarkozy is more pro-American than Chirac, but has made clear he opposes the war in Iraq and will find it hard to ally himself too closely to Washington because of anti-U.S. sentiment at home.

http://today.reuters.com/misc/PrinterFrien...CE-ELECTION.xml

[aumd03 2]

I'm not sure "right" or "conservative" quite means the same thing in France. I think it means you don't support 30 hour work weeks with insane benefits for everyone which include months of vacations. It is my understanding thats what the labor riots were about a year or so ago. I sometimes work more than 30 hours in 2 days. I should probably move to France.

[TexasTiger 13,016]

I'm not sure "right" or "conservative" quite means the same thing in France. I think it means you don't support 30 hour work weeks with insane benefits for everyone which include months of vacations. It is my understanding thats what the labor riots were about a year or so ago. I sometimes work more than 30 hours in 2 days. I should probably move to France.

"Conservative" doesn't mean what it meant in the USA 30 years ago, either. Or even 20.

[Tigermike 3,053]

I'm not sure "right" or "conservative" quite means the same thing in France. I think it means you don't support 30 hour work weeks with insane benefits for everyone which include months of vacations. It is my understanding thats what the labor riots were about a year or so ago. I sometimes work more than 30 hours in 2 days. I should probably move to France.

"Conservative" doesn't mean what it meant in the USA 30 years ago, either. Or even 20.

Neither does democrat.

[AURaptor 1,126]

Better news for the USA than the alternative. Glad for the Frenchies

[TigerHeat 9]

I'm not sure "right" or "conservative" quite means the same thing in France. I think it means you don't support 30 hour work weeks with insane benefits for everyone which include months of vacations. It is my understanding thats what the labor riots were about a year or so ago. I sometimes work more than 30 hours in 2 days. I should probably move to France.

"Conservative" doesn't mean what it meant in the USA 30 years ago, either. Or even 20.

This election was a defeat for al qaeda. Now they've lost allies in Germany and France. They'll turn up the heat in UK now, I guess.

[DKW 86 7,440]

Is it just me, or are the European folks turning more and more conservative? Maybe the media has gotten all this stuff very wrong. THe EU partners keep electing folks that are competent and strong on defense and freedoms.

The French, man I could go off for days on them. They are basically the US when Carter was President. Carter had such bad inflation, taxation, and unemployment numbers and did nothing to straighten it out. Reminds me of Chirac. The very idea there is ANYONE on this planet considered Chirac Conservative kind of gives me pause as to how screwed up our western societies get sometimes. He might have talked Conservative, but his actions were just about 100% anti-Conservative. Chirac had those ridiculous Anti-Civili rights laws enacted about Muslim dress and Christians displaying crosses. He was really Anti-Civil Rights as most Socialists eventually morph into.

The 35 hour work week, the vacations, and the firing rules, etc have made France just about grind to a halt economically. The multis are moving business out and not looking back. Now maybe some will not move as quick. Maybe the Fench will wake up and see the stupidity of some off these ideas.

[otterinbham 0]

Well, as far as international politics is concerned, France will continue to take an independent tack. However, France is basically where the US and the UK were in 1980, realizing that a large statist economy is extraordinarily inefficient, squelches initiative, and actually creates more economic misery than it prevents. If you index household income, household wealth, unemployment, GDP growth or any other economic measurement of the US and UK and compare it to Germany, France, Italy, Scandinavia, and other Keynsian holdouts, you'll see that the gap began widening in the mid-80s, and has gotten bigger every year. In fact, GDP and productivity growth for the US and the UK grow at an annual rate that's twice that of the Western European powers.

What's more, interesting things begin to happen when former statist economies turn to US and UK economic reforms. All you have to do is look at Denmark, which has garnered astonishing drops in unemployment and rises in total output in the past three years.

However, while the US and UK had a great deal of upheaval during the restructuring of the 80s, France may have a tougher road ahead. Civil disobedience is far more aggressive in France, so plan on seeing lots of disturbances along the lines of 1968. Farmers, government workers, and a host of others who enjoyed lots of protection against market forces are in for a rude shock, and it will take 2-3 years for the benefits of reform to be apparent. So the possibility exists that Sarko won't be able to implement the kind of deep reaching reforms that are necessary. And look for total chaos if he starts throwing out illegal immigrants.

However, if he does, I think France will show an economic renaissance. It has excellent technical capabilities in its industries and gets something like 90% of its energy from nuclear power.

And, DKW, I think you're right. People in Western Europe are finally beginning to understand that Keynsian economics simply do not work. While it allows greater short-term material prosperity and security, the contradictions begin building up and acting as a gigantic drag on the ability of a nation to accumulate wealth and disseminate it throughout the population.

[Auburn 6 101]

so did sarkozy actually win, or did royal surrender?

[AURaptor 1,126]

so did sarkozy actually win, or did royal surrender?

Royal got beat by 6 % . Considering she was a socialist and it was France....that's a HUGE margin.