February 13, 2012
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Sarkozy’s conservative party braces for big defeat in French regional election
Nicolas Sarkozy
22 March 2010 / AP, PARIS
President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative party was bracing for a massive setback Sunday as frustrated French voters cast ballots in regional run-off elections likely to favor the opposition left - and to set the stage for the 2012 presidential race.
Discouraged by Sarkozy’s handling of the stumbling economy, voters preferred the Socialists and like-minded parties in the first round of voting a week ago. Apathy played a central role in that round, with turnout at a record low in the first round, at 46 percent. By noon in Sunday’s runoff, turnout was about 19 percent, the Interior Ministry said. Sarkozy’s UMP party, or Union for a Popular Majority, has ended up pleading with voters to go to the polls. In last week’s vote, the Socialist-led left won 53.5 percent of the votes while the UMP-led conservatives had 39.9 percent. Even in a politically active, and generally left-leaning, neighborhood in southeast Paris, one voting station stood empty for the first hour after polls opened on Sunday. Eventually Jeanne-Marie Debras appeared and cast her ballot for a far-left list, including Communist Party candidates. “I hope this election will breathe new life into [the left],” the 62-year-old retired teacher said. “We have the impression that we have forgotten about our rights,” she said. Voters like Debras are angry at Sarkozy’s reform efforts aimed at loosening up labor rules to make the economy more globally competitive.
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