Sarkozy Set to Lose

The exit polls from the French Presidential election show Sarkozy losing the first round by one percentage point. Coming out on top is his socialist rival, François Hollande.

François Hollande

For weeks opinion polls had predicted that the first round of voting would be close between Hollande and Sarkozy, with Hollande being just slightly ahead of the incumbent President. Sarkozy's followers believe that, because the men came so close in the first round that Sarkozy could manage to win in two weeks time when the French go to the polls again. But it is also important to note that as well as predicting a tight win for Hollande in the first round, they also predicted Hollande trouncing Sarkozy in the second round of voting.

What is most surprising about the race is the amount of the vote that the far right candidate, Marine Le Pen, attracted. She managed to get almost 20% of the vote (nearly one in five French voters), this progress made by the far-right in France is extremely worrying. So why have the French voted en masse for a far-right candidate? Some of her policies are quite appealing to many French people for one, she has been anti-globalisation, which is also a characteristic claimed by Hollande, she also has managed to tap into the fear that many French people have that French culture and heritage is being eroded by immigration and European integration. France is one of Europe's, and the world's, oldest countries having existed in some form since around the 5th/6th centuries and French people are very proud of their heritage and identity. I really hope that when people voted for Le Pen they forgot that at the heart she is racist. For you cannot be far-right and non-racist, it isn't possible. Since the 2007/8 economic collapse and subsequent recession far-right groups have made significant progress across Europe, in Germany I have written about the rise of the Immortals and other far-right groups. The far-right is also gaining in debt-stricken Greece and the Norway massacres shocking the country to its core. With recovery on the horizon it is possible that the rise of the far-right will be quelled and the fears of a pre-WWII Europe will be gone.

The likely outgoing
Nicolas Sarkozy 

Despite the rise of the far-right, it looks like France will have its first socialist president in 17 years. Electing a socialist president will be a game-changing on the French, European and world stage. Hollande will challenge the cuts that Sarkozy, Merkel and Cameron have been supporting and will probably look towards an Obama stimulus package for growth. If he wins I wish him good luck, I hope he wins as we need some left-wing views on the European stage.