Posted on 10/11/2011 3:08:25 PM PDT by Cincinna
François Hollande, a centrist, took the lead in the first round of the Socialist primary this weekend, beginning the battle to see who will oppose President Nicolas Sarkozy in the general election next year.
But by Monday, even Mr. Hollande, the front-runner, was forced to acknowledge an unexpectedly strong showing by an anti-globalization candidate, revealing a deep vein of public disquiet over the ongoing European economic crisis and ever-deeper austerity cuts pushed by the Sarkozy government.
The surprise was the third-place finish by Arnaud Montebourg — a flamboyant younger legislator who has called for partial re-nationalization of France’s banks, rigorous financial regulation and heavy taxation of the rich. Analysts said Mr. Montebourg’s showing, at 17 percent, puts pressure on Mr. Hollande to lean distinctly leftward if he hopes to secure the nomination in a runoff vote next Sunday against Ms. Aubry.
Opinion polls show that dissatisfaction with Mr. Sarkozy is so high that either Mr. Hollande or Ms. Aubry could beat him in a general election if the vote, scheduled for April 22, were held today.
Mr. Hollande, 57, has until now positioned himself as the moderate most likely to appeal to centrist voters who supported Mr. Sarkozy in 2007. But on Monday, he seemed to suggest that he might have misjudged the prevailing political winds.
“When 17 percent of voters say that they are worried about globalization, that outsourcing of jobs is a violation, that the banks have behaved irresponsibly it does not just mean that they deserve to be heard, but that has to be translated by the person — in this case myself — who should be the presidential candidate,” Mr. Hollande told RTL radio.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
ELECTION ON SUNDAY
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FIRST: Hollande is no centrist. Hé is a Socialist who has moderated his positions to the center of the LEFT. Just a lighter shade of pink.
Sarkozy’s conservative U.M.P. party portrayed the primary outcome as evidence of intellectual bankruptcy within the opposition.
“It is the perfect summary of the great misunderstanding that the Socialists are constructing with the French,” Jean-François Copé, the U.M.P. party leader, was quoted as saying Monday in Libération. “That is to say that nothing that has been proposed is feasible given the global context as we know it.”
France better think over whether or not electing the Socialists is a wise idea when the welfare state needs to be dismantled. They can look to Spain and see how (un)successful they were.
doesnt matter if they are left or right. run when they shift positions based on polls
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