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FRANCE ELECTIONS: Conservative Gov't takes a beating from far right and left
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| Contributor | Gerald Farinas |
| Last Edited | Gerald Farinas Mar 21, 2004 04:56pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | News Service - Associated Press |
| News Date | Sunday, March 21, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | FRANCE ELECTIONS: Conservative Gov't takes a beating from far right and left
The Honolulu Advertiser
Voters dealt a solid blow to France's governing conservatives in Sunday's first round of regional elections, giving the leftist opposition some 40 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results. Exit polls showed the party of President Jacques Chirac receiving 34 percent of the vote, while the extreme right received about 17 percent. In a personal blow to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, his hand-picked candidate in his home region of Poitou-Charentes in western France took a beating from a high-profile Socialist candidate. The regional elections were widely viewed as a test of the government, and estimates confirmed predictions that Chirac's Union for a Popular Majority would be punished for France's economic and social woes.
The National Front, the main extreme-right party, should be able to move to next Sunday's second round in 19 of continental France's 22 regions, according to the Sofres polling firm. Such three-way runoffs are often fatal to the mainstream right. The Socialists were bolstered by the victory of their counterparts in Spain's general elections, which came days after the March 11 terrorist attacks in Madrid and reflected anger at the incumbent Spanish government's support for the war in Iraq. They hope to rejuvenate a party battered in the 2002 presidential and legislative elections. |
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