[Cincinna]

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Isn’t this what always happens when you betray your own conservative principles?

To be fair, Sarko has attempted to pull the French screaming and yelling out of a top heavy 19th century bureaucratic relic of a government. The French do not like change.

The winners: Martine Aubry leading the PS Socialist Party and allies with 55% to victory, but not the clean sweep she hoped for.

Nicolas Sarkozy and parties on the Right with 37%.

Jean-Marie le Pen, leader of the extreme far Right National Front, neo-fascist,anti-semitic, and extremely anti-American party. The FN got 17%.

[kabar]

The far-right National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen took an impressive 17.5 per cent, eating mainly into the UMP's votes in the 12 regions where it was competing against the two big blocs. This confirmed that FN supporters who had backed Mr Sarkozy for his tough law-and-order line in the 2007 presidential election, had returned to the hardline, anti-immigrant fold.

Immigration and the preservation of French culture and history will increasingly be the issue. And not only in France but all over Europe.