Posted on 04/23/2007 2:17:58 AM PDT by Cincinna
Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative, and Ségolène Royal, the Socialist, won the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, setting up a classic left-right contest next month between two candidates with competing visions of how to govern France.
Whoever is elected will also usher in a new generation of leadership: For the first time, France will have an elected president who did not come of age during World War II.
With more than 99 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Sarkozy was leading with about 30.7 percent of the vote, and Ms. Royal had about 25.2 percent. François Bayrou, the centrist who vowed to plot a new, conciliatory way of governing, came in a distant third with about 18.4 percent.
A field of nine other candidates, including the far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen, who came in second in the first round in 2002, captured the remaining vote.
The balloting on Sunday was marked by high anxiety, sunny weather and an exceptionally
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Le Pen has been around for 50+ years in French political life.
He is a neo-fascist, racist, anti-semite.
He hates Sarko enough to support his opponent, the Socialist.
It isn’t such a big jump for le Pen. He is an admirer of Hitler and Petain. National Socialists, aka, Nazis.
Your analysis is correct. Royal is a part of the elite ruling class. Sarko is not.
He is a lawyer, not a graduate of ENA, National Administration School. It is the elite school that trains government functionaries, and from which, all the leaders of France, have been graduates, on the Left and the Right.
I also think that Sarko is a new kind of leader because his father was a refuge from Hungarian communism.
So far, it is only a rumor. Le Pen will announce his choice on May 1.
So far, he has been a sore loser. He accuses French people who didn’t vote for him of being “duped”, implying they will get what they deserve.
One thing the election accomplished is to rid the French political scene of that horrid little man and his hate and poison.
Le Pen also performed the great service of speaking out for decades on immigration when most of the political class was turning a blind eye to it. The French people are in his debt, even though most of them don’t know it.
You bet it makes a difference. What happens in France makes a difference for France, for Europe, for the entire Western world, and especially for the US.
France is the 5th largest economy in the world. France is a major military power. France is a member of NATO. France has nuclear weapons.
Yes. This election is a very big deal.
yes, but from what I heard, Sarkozy said he will get rid of illegal imigrants (if imigrants can be illegal) after that statement, some minorities rebeled (no cars burned methinks) and he changed his mind, he’ll just try to handle the immigration.
Doesn’t sound like a conservative to me:P but still French elite’s have a little bit different quality then those here, and my french after few years of not using would need some polishing also :)
Have there been any polls yet released that were done AFTER the Sunday elections?
Any rumors of “deals” between the losers and the winners yet?
Unhuh...Well, maybe France should find the stones to deal with it’s domestic problems, seeing as how they are all that powerful and everything. What’s the score on the car fires set by the “youths”?
All the polls cited in this post were taken after the first round.
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