'Blue wave’ sweeps Sarkozy to poll victory

[robcon]

"President Sarkozy is on course to win full control of all the levers of French power after voters yesterday gave his centre-right camp a record lead in the first round of national parliamentary elections.

Candidates for Mr Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), and their allies won 46 per cent of the vote, compared with about 36 per cent for the Socialist opposition. This should translate into a landslide victory with up to 440 seats in the 577-seat parliament in next Sunday’s runoff. "

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1913003.ece

[AndreaCG]

1. Jeez, the way the French hate W

You'd think they'd be more careful about giving one party that much power. Esp. the RW one.

[DFW]

2. Sarkozy and his party are no Republicans

In fact, they will still leave intact social
benefits that our Democrats would never even
dare to propose in their sleep for fear of
their spouses turning them in as communists.

This is not Washington, 2002.

[Selatius]

3. France is apparently changing and moving a little closer to the right.

This was the Socialist Party's race to lose, and they lost big.

[LeftishBrit]

5. Not as much as all that

Sarkozy's predecessor was also a Conservative, though it's true that the parliament has become more Conservative-dominated.

Also, there is a huge spectrum of opinion within the Conservative group in France, and French Conservative politicians range all the way from people who would be too liberal to be elected as Democrats in most American states, to right-wing economic-Thatcherite anti-immigrant bigots who have some sympathy with Le Pen. Within-party conflicts and rebellions are common in France, and Sarkozy may not get his own way on everything, especially if there is popular dissatisfaction with policies. Moreover, very few French politicians would be strongly pro-Bush: the right-wingers tend to be very nationalistic and would not wish to play second fiddle in someone else's imperial adventures.

I wish Royal had won; but I don't think this is as extreme a disaster as all that. At worst, it may lead to unacceptably right-wing local economic policies - not to increased risk of war.

[Selatius]

8. Sarkozy strikes me as a classic right-winger, given his aggressive anti-immigrant rhetoric during...

the riots across France a couple years back. He may have coasted to victory as a result of the political repercussions of those riots. It left a lot of people scared in France.

[malaise]

7. Remember they too are using

electronic voting. The G8 is moving way too much to the right with the Pope as the fascist leader. Be scared fellow human beings.

[JCMach1]

4. Note of caution for Dems: it's about immigration

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

6. To be more specific - it's about demonization of immigrants.

Alot of folks over here don't realize that the immigration problems in France are not due to illegal immigration - only about 300,000 "san-papiers", all told, reside in France.

The problem has its roots in French colonial history. Since the end of the Algerian War of Independence, more than 2.5 million "pied noir' were granted citizenship. These, and other refugees from former French colonies in N. Africa, have occupied the lower end of the social strata in France ever since. It is the sons and daughters of these people who face discrimination in the job market and lives of abject poverty.

Sharko effectively exploited the fear of the native (white) French of this population. It's an old story - whip up fear of the "outsider" to make political gain. The sad thing is - these kids are completely French! Although their families hail from distant countries, they themselves are born, raised, and educated in France, and are fully vested citizens of La Republique.

And 90% of them are not Muslim! Their religion is Reggae, World Music, Hip-Hop, and Jazz! This goes double for the women and girls. I know from extensive personal experience that most 2nd-generation women of North African origin are not going back to the veil any time soon, and you can take that to the bank!