Hollande wins French presidential election with 51.9 % of votes

Francois Hollande on giant screen behind supporters after winning the second round of the presidential election on May 6, 2012 in Tulle, France (AFP Photo / Phillipe Desmazes)

Source: Russia Today
http://rt.com/news/france-election-hollande-victory-704/

First official results show Socialist candidate Francois Hollande defeated incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy, who managed to secure only 48.1 percent of the votes. Sarkozy has conceded defeat, asking for Hollande's victory to be respected.

The estimates were carried by French media after all polling stations closed at 2000 (18:00 GMT).

Hollande will be the first French socialist president since 1995.

The socialist candidate capitalized on France's economic woes and President Sarkozy's unpopularity. He has also promised to raise taxes on big corporations and people earning more than 1m euros a year, and lower the retirement age to 60.

Sarkozy, who has been in office since 2007, had promised to reduce France's large budget deficit through budget cuts.

It is only the second time an incumbent president fails to win re-election since the start of France Fifth Republic in 1958.

Hollande is expected to be inaugurated later this month.

Analysts suggest this election result could have great implications on the entire Eurozone.

Numbers showed this presidential election was one of the most popular among voters, with turnout reaching a record high of over 80 percent.

Polls open in France run-off presidential election

An undated photo of the campaign posters of candidates for the 2012 French presidential election stuck on an electoral billboard at Le Raincy, outside Paris

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/239801.html

Polls have opened in France's presidential run-off election that could result in the formation of a first socialist government in the European country in almost two decades.

Voting started in France on Sunday in an election that could make Nicolas Sarkozy the 11th European leader to be swept from the office by the economic crisis and crown Francois Hollande as France's first Socialist president in 17 years.

About 46 million people are eligible for voting on Sunday as polling stations in municipal buildings around the country open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (0600-1600GMT). In Paris and other large urban areas polls remain open until 8 p.m. (1800 GMT).

The French living in Canada, the United States and South America went to the polls on Saturday. Voting has also begun for the French nationals living in Australia.

Partial official results are expected Sunday night, after the last polls close.

Hollande came first in the first round of the vote on April 22 with 28.63 percent of the votes, while Sarkozy garnered 27.18 percent.

Earlier, the candidates traded insults in a televised head-to-head debate.

Sarkozy labeled Hollande a liar and a "little slanderer" while Hollande accused Sarkozy of shirking his responsibilities, cronyism and favoring the privileged over France's poor.

Economy, unemployment and immigration policies are among the top issues considered by the voters.

'Sarkozy got cash from L'Oreal heiress'

French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196841.html

A French judge has said that President Nicolas Sarkozy personally received cash handouts from L'Oreal cosmetics heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his 2007 election campaign, Press TV reports.

Judge Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, who first investigated the matter, made the charges in a book titled Sarko m'a tuer" (Sarko Killed Me) by two investigative journalists with Le Monde newspaper that is scheduled to go on sale Thursday.

French President Sarkozy has, however, dismissed the allegations.

"These allegations are scandalous, unfounded and untruthful," said a spokesperson for Sarkozy on Wednesday.

The authors of the book, who have covered the Sarkozy administration, quoted Judge Prevost-Desprez as saying that the personal nurse of Lilliane Bettencourt claimed to have watched Bettencourt directly hand cash directly to Sarkozy.

Members of Sarkozy's UMP party questioned the timing of publicizing the allegations while Socialist leaders called for a full investigation of the new claims.

The allegations could threaten Sarkozy's presidential re-election chances that already appear dim due to his low approval ratings.

In 2010, French prosecutors started a probe into allegations that Sarkozy received illegal funding for his election campaigns in 2007.

The prosecutor's office in Paris launched its investigations after receiving a report by a former accountant to Bettencourt, France's wealthiest woman, which claimed that the billionaire gave EUR 150,000 (USD 188,000) in secret cash to the treasurer for President Sarkozy's UMP party, Eric Woerth.

French upset about public deficit: Poll

French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/193788.html

A new opinion poll shows that the majority of people in France are worried about the level of the country's public deficit.

The survey conducted by the French polling company, IFOP, said on Saturday that 82 percent of the individuals surveyed were worried about the issue, Reuters reported.

According to the poll, the deficit has gained in importance with 50 percent of respondents calling it a priority since the beginning of 2010, when just over one-third considered it to be among the issues to be dealt with before the April's presidential election in France.

The deficit crisis, however, lagged behind unemployment, health and education as priority issues among voters.

"This massive 14 point increase is obviously linked to the context of the poll and the abundant media coverage that has surrounded this subject," the IFOP said in a statement.

France's debt, which is at around 85 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year, stands well above the eurozone's recommended 60 percent.

France, which has a triple-A credit rating, could be next in line for a downgrade following the lowering of the US's rating.

The current economic issue will threaten French President Nicolas Sarkozy's position in the France's upcoming election in 2012.

French justice minister threatens Israel critics with jail

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122101&sectionid=351020202


Pro-Palestinian solidarity groups in France have been threatened by the French justice minister with legal action, after they stepped up a campaign of boycotts against Israeli goods.

On March 30, Palestinian Land Day, French activists held large rallies across the country and joined the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign against Israel.

Thousands of people held a protest in Paris in solidarity with Palestinians and urged the imposition of sanctions on Israeli products

The protesters took to the streets and large supermarkets and called on shoppers to boycott Israeli products.

This prompted an outburst from the French Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who called on the judiciary to prosecute the critics of Israel on the pretext of “racial discrimination,” although many Jewish people are also active in the BDS campaign to end Israel's discriminatory policies against the Palestinians, press TV correspondent Mark Votier reported.

The justice minister's threat drew thousand people to sign a BDS petition protesting against the violation of their right to free expression and association, enshrined in various legal instruments including the European Convention on Human Rights.

“I do not wish to be arrested but if the minister considers us to be criminals and wants to arrests us, she can. We are here to show our solidarity with Palestinians and especially with the people of Gaza who are suffering terribly,” Nichole Kiil Nielsen, member of European parliament told Press TV.

France's 2nd regional vote begins after Sarkozy defeat

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121334&sectionid=351020603


In France, people have started voting in the final round of regional elections expected to deal a tough blow to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The latest polls indicate that Sarkozy and his ruling party, Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), could lose all 22 metropolitan regions on mainland France.

Despite UMP's comfortable majority in the national parliament, the Sunday ballot is expected to be a 'humiliating' setback for Sarkozy after opposition Socialists gained the upper hand in the first round of the metropolitan elections meant to reshuffle local governments and maintain public buildings and institutes.

The Socialists managed to garner 30 percent of the vote compared to UMP's 26.5 percent ballot collection in March 14 elections which suffered from a low turnout.

The latest polls are the last big national test for the governing body before the presidential election in 2012.

Despite Sarkozy's brushing of the regional vote as a local ballot, the French president is, however, expected to make partial changes to his cabinet in the coming days.

Political analysts say Sarkozy's declining popularity is due to rising unemployment, the growing strain on public finances, and a series of controversies over issues ranging from lavish executive pay to immigration and security.
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2010 Mar 14

Polls: Heavy blow for Sarkozy in regional vote



Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120796&sectionid=351020603

Opinion polls suggest heavy losses for French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling party in France's March 14 regional elections.

French citizens go to the polls on Sunday in order to decide the governments for 26 regions in metropolitan France and the overseas territories.

However, a recent poll conducted by the TNS Sofres polling institute put the opposition socialists ahead of Sarkozy's UMP by 2.5 percent.

The latest regional ballot has also been overshadowed by the country's 10 percent unemployment rate and growing financial constraints which polls say would undermine Sarkozy's rightist UMP party as leftists controlling 20 of the 22 mainland regions are gaining momentum ahead of 2012 presidential election, Reuters reported.

Sarkozy's approval ratings have dropped markedly since his election in 2007 and analysts predict a failure for his 2012 reelection bid.

"The balance of power is extremely favorable for the left," AFP quoted Frederic Dabi, another pollster at the IFOP polling agency, as saying.

Meanwhile, French daily newspaper Liberation described the two-round regional elections due March 14 and 21 as "the last vote before the presidential election in 2012, which can change the political landscape."
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2010 Mar 08

Sarkozy approval rating at lowest-ever level



Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120307&sectionid=351020603

In another major blow to the French president ahead of this month's local elections, a new poll suggests that Nicolas Sarkozy does not have the approval of 64 percent of the French.

Results of a CSA opinion poll published in Le Parisien daily suggested on Sunday that Sarkozy's approval rating sank 4 points in a month to stand at 36 percent — the lowest level since he came to power in 2007.

Critics on both sides of the French political spectrum attributed the low level of approval rating to economy saying unemployment was weighing in on the respondents minds.

"The government's strategy has led to more poverty and more unemployment, so the regional elections have come at the right moment," Socialist party spokesman Benoit Hamon told Canal+ television on Sunday, according to Reuters.

This, analysts maintain, could provide more fodder for those who want to challenge Sarkozy's leadership.

"A positive trend is opening up for all those who see themselves as alternatives to Nicolas Sarkozy, both on the left and the right," said political analyst Stephane Rozes.

Based on a separate CSA poll, leftwing groups would collect a combined 52 percent of the ballot in the local elections against a scanty 28 percent for center-right and rightist parties.

Sarkozy has suffered a host of setbacks in recent months, his authority damaged by internal party disputes, allegations of nepotism, a controversial debate on national identity and growing concerns over the ever-increasing debt and deficit levels.