Showing posts with label French Presidency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label French Presidency. Show all posts
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Sunday, May 07, 2017
'France Has Chosen Continuity' - Le Pen - BBC News
Thursday, March 02, 2017
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
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Sunday, May 06, 2012
François Hollande has won power in France, turning the tide on a rightwards and xenophobic lurch in European politics and vowing to transform Europe's handling of the economic crisis by fighting back against German-led austerity measures.
The 57-year-old rural MP and self-styled Mr Normal, a moderate social democrat from the centre of the Socialist party, is France's first left[-]wing president in almost 20 years. Projections from early counts, released by French TV, put his score at 51.9%.
His emphatic victory is a boost to the left in a continent that has gradually swung rightwards since the economic crisis broke four years ago.
Nicolas Sarkozy, defeated after one term in office, became the 11th European leader to lose power since the economic crisis in 2008.
He conceded defeat at a gathering of his party activists at the Mutualité in central Paris, urging them from the stage to stop booing Hollande. "I carry all the responsibility for this defeat," he said.
He had spoken to Hollande to congratulate him. "From the bottom of my heart I want France to succeed with the challenges it faces. It is something much greater than us; France. This evening we must think exclusively of France."
He said that after 35 years in politics and 10 years at the top of government, he would now become a simple "Frenchman among the French".
The defeat of the most unpopular French president ever to run for re-election was not simply the result of the global financial crisis or eurozone debt turmoil. It was also down to the intense public dislike of the man viewed by many as the "president of the rich" who had swept to victory in 2007 with a huge mandate to change France. The majority of French people felt he had failed to deliver on his promises, and he was criticised for his ostentatious display of wealth, favouring the rich and leaving behind over 2.8 million unemployed. Political analysts said anti-Sarkozy sentiment had become a cultural phenomenon in France. » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Sunday, May 06, 2012
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REUTERS.COM: France looked set to crown Francois Hollande as its first Socialist president in nearly two decades in an election on Sunday, marking a shift to the left at the heart of Europe and heralding a fight back against German-led austerity.
Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, swamped by anger at a surge in unemployment during his five-year term, faced being the 11th euro zoneleader to be swept from power by the economic crisis after final opinion polls placed Hollande between four and eight points ahead.
A wide margin of victory would give Hollande greater authority to pursue his promise to temper unpopular German-led austerity, which sparked protests across southern Europe last week, and refocusing economic policy on fostering growth.
In a decisive day for the recession-hit single currency area, Greece's mainstream political parties were punished in a parliamentary election for rising economic misery due to IMF-imposed spending cuts, exit polls showed.
Hollande cast his vote for the presidential runoff in the central town of Tulle, where he was mayor for seven years, shaking hands and kissing voters, many of whom he knows personally. "I am confident. I am sure," he told Reuters as he ate later in a local restaurant packed with Tulle residents.
In Paris's Bastille square, a flashpoint of the 1789 French Revolution and the Socialists' traditional gathering point for electoral celebrations, crowd barriers were already laid out in anticipation of an Hollande victory. Party supporters gathered in excitement two hours before the last polls closed, and giant television screens were erected.
In Tulle, Hollande supporters drove around the town honking car horns. » | Sybille de La Hamaide and Daniel Flynn | PARIS | Sunday, May 06, 2012
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Saturday, May 05, 2012
Socialist voters face a nervous wait for the results of today's presidential election runoff between Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande after final opinion polls following Wednesday's fiery television debate revealed a late surge in favour of the outgoing president, who has previously trailed his leftwing rival throughout the race.
The polls indicated that Hollande was still on track to win the second round runoff vote, but revealed that the gap between the presidential rivals had narrowed from 10 percentage points a week ago to just four. An Ifop poll for Paris-Match showed Hollande at 52% and Sarkozy at 48%.
On Friday, before the official midnight deadline for campaigning to end, Hollande warned his supporters not to consider the election as being in the bag. At his last campaign meeting in Périgueux in south-west France, he said the battle was not yet won.
"It's true that you are confident and you want to win. I feel it," he told the crowd. "I don't want to be a killjoy, but don't make what could be the fatal mistake of thinking that the game is already over … that you needn't turn out. I have to tell you that I am sure of nothing. This victory is still not certain." » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Saturday, May 05, 2012
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Thursday, May 03, 2012
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Tuesday, May 01, 2012
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has delivered a further blow to President Nicolas Sarkozy's hopes of re-election by refusing to endorse him and telling her six million supporters to make their own choice at Sunday's ballot.
"I will not grant my trust, or a mandate, to these two candidates," she told supporters on Tuesday at an annual commemoration of Joan of Arc, the national saint her group favours to the May Day celebrations held by international labour and leftist parties.
"On Sunday, I will cast a blank ballot." – Jacky Rowland reports.
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Thursday, April 26, 2012
Are there really 6.4 million fascists, racists or xenophobes in France? Not at all, says the French political class. Yet this question continues to dominate the final stages of the French presidential election campaign.
The Socialist François Hollande topped the first round vote on 22 April ahead of the rightwing president, Nicolas Sarkozy, creating a dynamic for the left. But Hollande and Sarkozy now face each other in a final run-off on 6 May that is far from clear cut.
The far right dominates headlines after the Front National's Marine Le Pen came third, with the party's highest ever score of 17.9%. Her 6.4 million voters now hold the result in the balance.
Sarkozy has little chance of being re-elected unless he wins over a majority of Le Pen's voters. For the unpopular president, things are extremely difficult but, political experts say, not totally impossible.
Analysts say he needs the support of around 80% of Le Pen voters to win. Polls – which vary wildly – show on average around half Le Pen voters voting Sarkozy, 20% choosing Hollande and 30% abstaining or spoiling their ballot. Sarkozy's camp says all is to play for, despite recent polls showing Hollande winning.
Meanwhile, the political class is soul-searching about what the strong Le Pen vote says about France. » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Thursday, April 26, 2012
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
Swept to power on a tide of hope for a enacting a “rupture” with his predecessors in 2007, Mr Sarkozy faces an epic struggle to convince France he is still the man for the country’s top job.
“Yes, I am candidate for the presidential election,” he told millions of viewers who tuned in to scrutinise his short appearance on TF1’s 8 o’clock news programme – the country’s most watched evening broadcast.
“I took this decision because France, Europe and the world have for the last three years seen a series of unprecedented crises, which means that not seeking a new mandate from the French people would be abandoning my duties.”
“Can you imagine the captain of a ship in the heart of a storm saying: I’m tired, I’m giving up, I’m stopping?’,” he asked, adding: “I have things to say to the French people, I have proposals to make to them.”
Mr Sarkozy’s shipping analogy came weeks after his main rival,François Hollande, the Socialist candidate and frontrunner, was likened to the “captain of a pedalo heading into a storm” by a leftist critic. Mr Hollande has never held a cabinet post. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Thursday, April 21, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The leader of France's far-right National Front party would qualify for the second round of France's presidential elections at the expense of President Nicolas Sarkozy, a poll showed on Wednesday.
The poll results suggest the opposition Socialists would be well-placed to win the May 2012 run-off as the presence of Nation Front leader Marine Le Pen in a second round would likely trigger a massive vote for her opponent.
The survey by pollsters Harris Interactive found that IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former Socialist finance minister, would comfortably win the first round if he decides to contest the elections.
Mr Strauss-Kahn scored 30 per cent approval, versus 21 per cent for National Front leader Ms Le Pen, while Mr Sarkozy came in third with 19 per cent, the poll showed. » | Thursday, April 21, 2011
Saturday, July 31, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy's dream of having his own presidential jet to rival America's Air Force One are about to come true with "Air Sarko One", a £150 million aircraft complete with bedroom, air filter system so he can smoke cigars, and a shower.
The specially upholstered Airbus A330-200, has just been taken on its first test flight in Bordeaux, southwestern France, with all internal fittings due for completion by October.
The plane will also include a 12-man meeting room, 60 business class seats, top-grade encrypted communications systems, a reinforced fuselage and missile decoy system.
A fleet of smaller jets is also to replace the current Falcon 50 and 900 models at ministers' disposal. This includes two Falcon 7Xs, models often favoured by the world's jet set.
Presidential air force officials have dubbed it "Air Carla One" after his ex-supermodel wife.
The French leader is understood to have long envied the luxurious conditions in which Barack Obama, the US President flies across the world in his Boeing 747-200B, and has complained that his two smaller Airbus A319s lacked the necessary presidential stature. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
THE AUSTRALIAN: PRESIDENT Jacques Chirac bade an emotional farewell to the French people today, proclaiming his love for "this great ... this magnificent nation" and pride at accomplishing his mission.
“I hand over to Nicolas Sarkozy with pride in a completed duty and great confidence in the future of our country,” said the President, who today closes 12 years in office and hands over to his former subordinate.
“It has been a very great honour to serve you,” he said, talking of the “strength of the link-which has bound me to every one of you”. Chirac departs with a plea for unity (more) By Charles Bremner
DIE PRESSE:
Der Methusalem der Macht sagt adieu
DIE PRESSE:
Sarkozy’s Frau ging nicht zur Wahl
FAZ:
Was die Franzosen nicht wissen durften
Mark Alexander
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