Posted on 06/13/2007 6:52:52 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
FRENCH SOCIALISTS HIT BY NEW ELECTION DRUBBING
Received Sunday, 10 June 2007 19:05:00 GMT
PARIS, June 10, 2007 (AFP) - France's Socialists faced a new humiliation after a dismal showing in round one of a parliamentary election Sunday set to deliver a huge majority to President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Reeling from the defeat of their presidential candidate Segolene Royal last month, the Socialists, already in a minority in the National Assembly, look set to lose up to half their 149 seats, projections said.
Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party and its allies were on course to secure between 383 and 501 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly, according to projections by polling firms.
That would give the newly-elected president an absolute parliamentary majority to press ahead with his far-reaching social and economic reforms.
For the Socialists, the main question is likely to be the size of their defeat in the second round of voting next Sunday.
In the worst case scenario it will sink to depths last plumbed in 1993, when in a dramatic electoral collapse it returned just 67 law-makers.
The Socialists' main left wing ally, the Communist Party, risks an even worse fate and will cease to function as a parliamentary bloc if it falls below 20 deputies, as seems inevitable.
Once France's biggest political party, the Communists scored less than two percent in the presidential election and the party is close to bankruptcy.
Earlier this week it was forced to deny rumours that it intends to sell its Paris headquarters, a listed building designed by Oscar Niemeyer.
The left's difficulties owe much to the electoral system, which places the legislative vote in the wake of the presidential race.
This gives an overwhelming advantage to the newly-elected leader, who can convincingly argue that he needs a parliamentary majority to accomplish his manifesto.
The lacklustre nature of the current campaign, which has largely failed to excite the country, suggests that the French public regards the legislative election as of secondary importance compared to the presidential.
But polls also indicate that French voters believe the Socialist Party is in need of urgent modernisation before it can become a credible party of government.
According to a recent CSA survey, 55 percent of the public think the party has adapted badly to changes in the world, 58 percent find its ideas unrealistic, and 55 percent said it has yet to face up to the reasons for Royal's defeat.
The Socialists came to power for the first time in 1981 with the election of President Francois Mitterrand, who won again in 1988.
But they have since lost three presidential elections in a row -- most humiliatingly in 2002 when Lionel Jospin was overtaken by far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in the first round.
The Socialist Party is also hamstrung by deep divisions among its leading members, with left-wing, reformist and "Royal-ist" camps blaming each other for the presidential debacle.
Far from retiring from the fray after her defeat, Royal continues to present herself as the party's best hope for the future and has indicated she will run for the post of First Secretary at a congress due next year at the latest.
The post has been held for the last 10 years by her partner Francois Hollande, who has been heavily criticised for his handling of the presidential campaign.
Ping!
Will Democrats be urging us to run things by France now?
Oh, to have the same results here. Wait, we did have an historical majority and we got pork city and corruption. *sighing, shaking head, sadly *
WOW, total collapse of France to a nominal Bush ally.
Woooo Hoooo.
I love this story!
I hope the Democrats are quaking here...
We never had a majority like THAT.
I think the libs are in shock. Being an optimist, I believe that the tide is turning against the Socialist appeasers.
Holland and Sweden, now France are electing Conservative, or at least, more Conservative governments.
I certainly hope the trend continues in 2008 here in the US.
The post has been held for the last 10 years by her partner Francois Hollande, who has been heavily criticised for his handling of the presidential campaign.
That would certainly be an interesting fight. Could put a crimp in their relationship.
Now is the best time to bomb Iran.
It must have been vote fraud. No one votes against Progressives. How did Karl Rove engineer this one?
Child's play for a man who can manufacture a hurricaine.
Akin to when a liberal having been mugged converts to conservatism...there’s nothing more compelling to the French in this same regard than the smell of 5,000 burning Peugeot to cause the revival of common sense.
Re#8 True.
If only the US socialists would go down to a similar defeat in 2008 ... praying ...
bttt
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