French Voters Punish President

[mgc1961]

There were smiling faces everywhere at the Socialist Party's (PS) headquarters in the Rue de Solférino in Paris on Sunday. Party boss Martine Aubry now appears poised to lead the Socialists to victory in next Sunday's regional run-off election, seeing it secure power in regions right across the French map.

"If the Socialists stand together for the French, they will regain their trust," she said, looking delighted.

The election was bad news for President Nicolas Sarkozy's governing conservative Union for a Popular Movement Party (UMP). At Europe Ecologie, France's Green Party, officials expressed cautious optimism, while the right-extremist Front National indicated its satisfaction. Nevertheless, with a shocking 53.65 percent of voters staying away from the polls, turnout for Sunday's regional election hit an historic low.

Read more http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,683585,00.html and http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/gavinhewitt/

[Ian David]

1. Oh, no!

[mgc1961]

2. Life could be worse for Sarkozy.

Afterall, they're not screaming, "Off with his head!"

[fasttense]

3. Good, get that criminal out of France.

I hope he doesn't come here like Blair plans.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Sarkozy doesn't have to worry about reelection for a while

So he has time to rebuild his and his party's popularity. General economic improvement would help, of course.