France: Government loses majority in Senate to left wing
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government lost its majority in the Senate to the left on September 25, a historic defeat and a heavy blow to Mr. Sarkozy just seven months before the next French presidential election.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government lost its majority in the Senate to the left on September 25, a historic defeat and a heavy blow to Mr. Sarkozy just seven months before the next French presidential election.
 Difficult days are ahead for Mr. Sarkozy - Photo: Getty Images |
“September 25, 2011, will go down in history,” Jean-Pierre Bel, leader of the Socialist group in the Senate, told LCI television on Tuesday. “The results of the Senate elections show that this is a real defeat for the right.”
The left's victory was accompanied by a series of victories for Socialist candidates in local elections, where tens of thousands of local officials were authorized to cast electoral votes to elect the senate.
Reuters commented that a left-leaning senate would not be able to hinder Mr. Sarkozy's executive plans too much, but the loss of a long-standing bastion of the right was a "symbolic" setback, especially in the context of opinion polls showing the French president's popularity is low.
Accordingly, Mr. Sarkozy is one of the least popular French presidents since World War II, and will face a huge challenge in the two-round election scheduled to take place in April 2012.
Government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse sought to downplay the defeat by pointing out that the right still holds a majority in the lower house.
“There is no impediment to the government because, as you all know, the lower house has the final say,” she said.
The new left-wing senate is unlikely to block much of the executive process, but it will put more pressure on Mr Sarkozy's ambitious plan to enshrine a balanced budget law in the constitution, a measure seen as vital to maintaining the AAA credit rating of the French government's financial assets.
(According to Tuoi Tre)
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