French Socialists inflict losses on Sarkozy's party (weekend elections)

[Robbien]

Source: Reuters

France's opposition Socialists made sweeping gains in local elections on Sunday, delivering a sharp blow to President Nicolas Sarkozy just 10 months after his triumph in last year's presidential election.

The Socialists retained control of the capital Paris and won a string of towns and cities from Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party, including the key cities of Toulouse and Strasbourg.

But they failed to win the biggest symbolic prize of the evening, France's third city of Marseille, which the right just managed to hold, saving itself from total humiliation in the nationwide vote.

The elections were the first test of Sarkozy's popularity with voters since his victory last May, and the mood has changed sharply since then as the economy has faltered.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1529678720080316

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"This is an evening of defeat." says French parliamentary party.

:D

[Joanne98]

1. YAY

[stimbox]

2. Woohoo!

:woohoo:

[rpannier]

3. It is another great day

Thanks for the post

on edit:
Toulouse is a huge steal.
It's a conservative stronghold and one that people thought they would hold when the center party endorsed the Sarkozy supported candidate

[harmonicon]

4. I thought it would be the same in Strasbourg

Supposedly a conservative place (by French standards... ). Hooray for the left.

[Robbien]

5. Getting even one of the three cities would have been great

Getting two out of three is a very strong statement to Sarkozy to cease all the union busting and privatization activities.

Hopefully this will make a difference.

[goforit]

6. Sanity prevails?

[bluesmail]

7. Yay & Woohoo

[Vidar]

8. Vive la Revolution!