Posted on 05/06/2012 9:00:37 AM PDT by Libloather
France chooses a new president during tough times
By GREG KELLER | Associated Press – 4 mins 30 secs ago
PARIS (AP) — France voted in a presidential run-off election on Sunday that could see Socialist challenger Francois Hollande defeat incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy by capitalizing on public anger over the government's austerity policies.
The election outcome will impact efforts to fight France's debt crisis, how long the nation's troops stay in Afghanistan and how France exercises its military and diplomatic muscle around the world.
Hollande voted in his electoral fief of Tulle, in central France. Live television coverage showed the 57-year-old politician shaking hands and chatting with voters on his way into the polling station.
"It's going to be a long day," Hollande told reporters gathered to watch him vote. "It's up to the French people to decide if it's going to be a good day," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
From Der Spiegel on election in Germany/France
Merkel’s Less than Super Sunday
For Chancellor, Torturous Months Lie Ahead
German Chancellor Angela Merkel can’t be pleased about François Hollande’s election victory, but it will at least be bearable for her. The newfound self-confidence of her junior coalition partner, the FDP, which scored a surprise success in the state election of Schleswig-Holstein on Sunday, poses a greater threat to the chancellor. A Commentary By Roland Nelles more...
Coalition Voted Out in Schleswig-Holstein: Merkel’s Party Suffers Setback in Regional Election
A very coincidental correlation.
But hey, it could happen again! :-)
That must be some very twisted wishful thinking by Der Spiegel.
The consequences of the French vote will be grave.
The “surprise success” by the FDP in Germany’s Rhode Island is fairly inconsequential and mainly due to the local popularity of their top candidate. Otherwise the FDP is pretty much dead in the water, thanks to a decade or more of selecting clowns as their leaders. Just in times when a competent FDP with a strong conservative, business-oriented platform would be needed as a corrective, though small, partner to the CDU, they are spinning around like a compass at the north pole. Trying to please everyone from conservatives to muslims just ain’t gonna work. Duh!
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” ~Winston Churchill
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