Final polls put Hollande in line for French presidency
Source: Agencies |
May 7, 2012, Monday
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FRANCE was voting yesterday in elections which could crown Francois Hollande as its first Socialist president in nearly two decades, marking a leftward shift at the heart of Europe and making Nicolas Sarkozy the region's 11th leader to be toppled by the economic crisis.
Buoyed by a tide of anger at Sarkozy's inability to rein in rampant unemployment during his five-year term, Hollande was between four and eight points ahead in final opinion polls for yesterday's vote, which takes place alongside a Greek parliamentary election expected to punish leading parties for economic misery.
A wide margin of victory would give Hollande more authority to pursue his promise to push back a wave of unpopular German-inspired austerity in Europe, which recently brought hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the streets across the region, by refocusing on growth-orientated policies.
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 reporters at a local restaurant packed with Tulle residents.
Sarkozy was greeted by cheering crowds when he arrived to vote at a school in an up-market Paris neighborhood close to the home of his wife Carla Bruni, a former supermodel. "We are going to win," chanted supporters as the conservative leader briefly clasped the hands of well-wishers.
Figures published by the Interior Ministry showed 30.7 percent of the country's 46 million registered voters had cast their ballot by midday despite wet weather in much of France, topping the 28.3 percent at the same stage of the first round on April 22.
Raising taxes
Hollande, a mild-mannered career politician, has held a steady lead for weeks after outlining a comprehensive program in January based on raising taxes, especially on high earners, to finance spending and keep the public deficit capped.
As much as his own program, he is benefiting from anti-Sarkozy sentiment due to the incumbent's brash personal style and to anger about the same economic gloom that has swept aside leaders from Britain to Portugal.
"It will be close, much closer than polls have shown," said Moana de la Maisonneuve, 41, a commodities sales manager who voted for Sarkozy but was pessimistic about his chances. "The tough thing for Sarkozy is that people are focusing on his personality, rather than his policies."
Despite shaving a couple of points off Hollande's lead in the last days of a frenetic campaign, Sarkozy's own aides privately admit it would require a miracle for him to turn the odds in his favor and clinch a second term.
"I'd say he has one chance in six," a member of Sarkozy's inner circle said.
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 a Hollande victory.
"Both Sarkozy and Hollande would be capable managers of the French economy but Sarkozy has created too much discord ... that is why I voted Hollande," said photographer Gilles Leimdorfer.
In Greece, where angry voters were expected to punish mainstream parties for supporting IMF-backed austerity, French overseas voters voiced hope that a Hollande victory would temper Germany's drive for budgetary discipline which many say is driving a number of eurozone countries into recession.
"Enough is enough. There is too much austerity," 72-year-old Maria said, voting for Hollande at the consulate in Athens.
Buoyed by a tide of anger at Sarkozy's inability to rein in rampant unemployment during his five-year term, Hollande was between four and eight points ahead in final opinion polls for yesterday's vote, which takes place alongside a Greek parliamentary election expected to punish leading parties for economic misery.
A wide margin of victory would give Hollande more authority to pursue his promise to push back a wave of unpopular German-inspired austerity in Europe, which recently brought hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the streets across the region, by refocusing on growth-orientated policies.
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 reporters at a local restaurant packed with Tulle residents.
Sarkozy was greeted by cheering crowds when he arrived to vote at a school in an up-market Paris neighborhood close to the home of his wife Carla Bruni, a former supermodel. "We are going to win," chanted supporters as the conservative leader briefly clasped the hands of well-wishers.
Figures published by the Interior Ministry showed 30.7 percent of the country's 46 million registered voters had cast their ballot by midday despite wet weather in much of France, topping the 28.3 percent at the same stage of the first round on April 22.
Raising taxes
Hollande, a mild-mannered career politician, has held a steady lead for weeks after outlining a comprehensive program in January based on raising taxes, especially on high earners, to finance spending and keep the public deficit capped.
As much as his own program, he is benefiting from anti-Sarkozy sentiment due to the incumbent's brash personal style and to anger about the same economic gloom that has swept aside leaders from Britain to Portugal.
"It will be close, much closer than polls have shown," said Moana de la Maisonneuve, 41, a commodities sales manager who voted for Sarkozy but was pessimistic about his chances. "The tough thing for Sarkozy is that people are focusing on his personality, rather than his policies."
Despite shaving a couple of points off Hollande's lead in the last days of a frenetic campaign, Sarkozy's own aides privately admit it would require a miracle for him to turn the odds in his favor and clinch a second term.
"I'd say he has one chance in six," a member of Sarkozy's inner circle said.
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 a Hollande victory.
"Both Sarkozy and Hollande would be capable managers of the French economy but Sarkozy has created too much discord ... that is why I voted Hollande," said photographer Gilles Leimdorfer.
In Greece, where angry voters were expected to punish mainstream parties for supporting IMF-backed austerity, French overseas voters voiced hope that a Hollande victory would temper Germany's drive for budgetary discipline which many say is driving a number of eurozone countries into recession.
"Enough is enough. There is too much austerity," 72-year-old Maria said, voting for Hollande at the consulate in Athens.
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