Sunday, June 10, 2012
Socialist Victory in French Parliamentary Election
First Round Results Show Hollande's Party Poised to Secure Majority
OPEC Overshadowed by Iran-Saudi Rivalry
Land that We Love, Sierra Leone
Music We Love from Sweet Salone
Activists Considering 'Moratorium to End Austerity'
Day of Dissent Would be Modeled After 1969 Vietnam War Moratorium
Why Anti-Austerity Protests are Rare in Portugal
Romania's Leftist Government Poised to Win Local Elections
Monday, 11 June 2012
Results in the first round of parliamentary voting in France show President Francois Hollande's Socialists poised to secure the majority needed to push through dramatic economic reforms.
Results issued by the Interior Ministry show the Socialists and their Green Party allies winning close to 46 percent of the June 10 vote, ahead of the 34-percent showing for the UMP of former President Nicholas Sarkozy, who was defeated by Hollande in elections last month.
The parliamentary results, once confirmed in a second round of voting June 17, are expected to hand Hollande the clear majority in the 577-seat National Assembly needed to push through reforms aimed at stimulating growth and avoiding austerity measures imposed elsewhere in the struggling eurozone.
"Our reaction is that we are very happy, obviously," said Parisian Elsa Genetay, a supporter of the Socialist Party. "Because now, with a majority in the National Assembly, Francois Hollande will be able to put his policies in place and now we really have the left in power, which will be able to change things in France, and I am very happy with this result."
Hollande has already pushed through a number of populist reforms, subjecting government ministers to a 30-percent pay cut and lowering the retirement age for some workers from 62 to 60.
But he is eager to usher in additional reforms, including a tax hike for the rich and a plan to hire an additional 60,000 teachers for the country's school system.
Socialist Party member Benoit Hamon, the junior minister for social economy, welcomed the vote's outcome but stressed that it would take the second round of to determine precisely how many seats would go to Hollande's team.
"This confirms that the French want to give Francois Hollande the means to make the policies for which he was elected on May 6th," Hamon said. "It's a positive first step. But we must amplify the mobilization, so that next Sunday Francois Hollande is able to make the policies he's wishing for."
The vote of confidence for Hollande may boost his status in Europe and make France a powerful counterpoint to Germany at a time when Berlin is leading the debate on how the continent's 17 eurozone countries should fight a growing financial crisis.
The election also saw a surge in support for the far-right National Front of Marine Le Pen, who has called for France to abandon the euro and fight "Islamization."
Copyright © 2012. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Discord looms over OPEC. Saudi Arabia is helping to keep the lid on oil prices, and Iran and other cartel members are not happy about that. Read more.
Sierra Leone music is attracting international attention, and it's easy to see … and hear … why.
Foreign Confidential™ has learned that an ad-hoc group of European and American activists is considering calling for a general strike-like, global day of protest against austerity, the policy of slashing government spending to dismantle social services. The protest would be modeled after the Moratorium to End the Vietnam War, a massive demonstration that took place in the United States on October 15, 1969, with millions of people participating around the world.
A likely date for the "Moratorium to End Austerity" would be Monday, October 15, the 43rd anniversary of the Vietnam War protest, about three weeks ahead of the U.S. Presidential election on Tuesday, November 6.
Where a rightwing dictatorship ruled for more than four decades, the once-powerful Communist Party is feeble, and the Socialists actually back austerity measures--against a background of traditional Catholic conservatism and rural resignation and fatalism. Urban radicalism is practically nonexistent. Even in Grandola, the cradle of the 1974 revolution, it's hard to find a spark of revolt against austerity measures that have basically reversed decades of socioeconomic progress. Read more. Click below.
When Grandola Stood for Freedom
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