Sarkozy elected French president
Sun May 6, 2007 2:15 PM ET

By Crispian Balmer

PARIS (Reuters) - Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy won France's presidential election on Sunday, beating his Socialist rival Segolene Royal by a comfortable margin and extending the right's 12-year grip on power.

Within minutes of polls closing, Royal conceded defeat in a speech to party faithful in the heart of Paris.

"I hope that the next president of the republic fulfils his role in the service of all French people," she said.

Forecasts by four pollsters showed Sarkozy, 52, a hard-line former interior minister, won around 53 percent of the vote in the second-round ballot and will succeed fellow conservative Jacques Chirac, who was president for 12 years.

Turnout was predicted at about 85 percent.

Sarkozy's face flashed up on television screens after polling stations closed at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT), signaling his victory and setting off jubilant scenes among supporters gathered in central Paris.

Across the city at Socialist headquarters there was gloom and sorrow after the party crashed to its third consecutive presidential election defeat. It now faces the prospect of tough internal reform to make itself more appealing to voters.

Although opinion polls regularly suggested voters preferred Royal, who was seeking to become France's first woman head of state, they saw the uncompromising Sarkozy as a more competent leader with a more convincing economic program.

Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, presented himself as the "candidate of work", promising to loosen the 35-hour work week by offering tax breaks on overtime and to trim fat from the public service, cut taxes and wage war on unemployment.

He is expected to take office on May 16 or 17, and will be the first French president to be born after World War Two.

He will then name a new government and immediately launch into campaigning for June's parliamentary election, where he will seek a clear majority to implement his reform plans.

The president is elected for five years, is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, nominates the prime minister, has the right to dissolve the National Assembly and is responsible for foreign and defense policies. (link)

This is indeed good news. Not only for France, but for the West as well.

Labels: election, France

Talk Is Of War In French Election Battle

Updated: 11:50, Saturday May 05, 2007

The right-wing French presidential frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy has attacked Socialist rival Segolene Royal for making "warlike" remarks that his election in a run-off ballot on Sunday could trigger riots.

Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal

In an interview released by Le Parisien daily on its Website, Sarkozy said such comments were anti-democratic and a sign of desperation by Royal.

She was trailing Sarkozy by 10 points in the last pre-vote polls.

All campaigning has ended before Sunday's vote because French election rules ensure voters a "day of reflection" before the ballot.

Sarkozy dismissed talk of rioting in France's tinderbox suburbs should he win the presidency.

"To explain that if people don't vote for one candidate there will be violence is quite simply to refuse the democratic and republican expression of opinion," he said. (link)

Labels: election, France

Labels: France, politics

Dec. 10, 2006 13:21 | Updated Dec. 10, 2006 16:36 Syria moves missiles closer to Israel By HERB KEINON AND JPOST STAFF The cabinet at its weekly meeting heard a dismal assessment of the regional situation, as Brig.-Gen. Yossi Baidatz informed the government that Syria, concerned by the possibility of an Israeli attack, has stepped up its production of long-range missiles and moved anti-aircraft missiles to the front with Israel.

Syrian President Bashar Assad watches a training exercise through binoculars by one of the Syrian army's divisions in an undisclosed location in Syria, Monday, May 29. Photo: AP

"Everywhere you look, the extremists are on the rise, while those who want to bring about a new order in the Middle East are on the decline," Baidatz said, proceeding to paint a situation in the Gaza Strip in which Hamas was taking advantage of the cease-fire to strengthen itself and its military capabilities. While for the most part, Baidatz said, the cease-fire has held, there have been 17 rocket attacks on southern Israel from Gaza.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, center, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, left, and Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon, right, are seen during the weekly cabinet meeting in Olemrt's office in Jerusalem, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006. Photo: AP

Dec. 10, 2006 20:42 | Updated Dec. 10, 2006 22:36
France deploys UAVs to stop IAF flights
By YAAKOV KATZ
In an effort to put a stop to Israeli overflights in Lebanon, the French Armed Forces has deployed an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) squadron in southern Lebanon to conduct intelligence-gathering missions in place of the IDF.

France, a member of UNIFIL, has expressed adamant opposition to IAF overflights in Lebanon. Last month, OC Planning Division Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan traveled to Paris for meetings with senior military officials during which he tried to explain Israel's operational needs. The flights, the IDF claims, are necessary for gathering intelligence and keeping an eye on the Lebanese-Syrian border through which weapons are smuggled to the Hizbullah.

Labels: France, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, power, Syria