Hollande beats Sarkozy in French presidential polls
Monday May 07, 2012 08:36:45 AM,
IANS
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Paris: Socialist Party
challenger François Hollande Sunday wrested power from incumbent
Nicolas Sarkozy to become the first Socialist president of France
since 1995.
Hollande beat Sarkozy in a tight run-off election to win the
presidency with 51.9 percent of the vote to Sarkozy's 48.1
percent, the website of France 24 TV channel reported citing the
Ipsos polling institute.
In the first round of the presidential polls April 22, Sarkozy had
gained 27.18 percent of the vote against Hollande's 28.63 percent.
Hollande was leading in the opinion polls, with 52.5-53.5 percent
saying they would vote for him.
According to BBC, analysts say the vote has wide implications for
the whole eurozone as Hollande has vowed to rework a deal on
government debt in member countries.
Exuberant supporters of Hollande converged on Place de la Bastille
in Paris -- a traditional rallying point of the Left -- to
celebrate.
Hollande capitalised on France's economic woes and Sarkozy's
unpopularity.
The socialist candidate has promised to raise taxes on big
corporations and people earning more than 1m euros a year. He also
wants to raise the minimum wage, hire 60,000 more teachers and
lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some workers.
It is only the second time an incumbent president has failed to
win the re-election since 1958.
The last was Valery Giscard d'Estaing. He was beaten in 1981 by
Socialist Francois Mitterrand, who had two terms in office until
1995.
In a twin blow to Sarkozy between the two rounds, far-right
candidate Marine Le Pen and centrist François Bayrou, who gathered
around 18 and nine percent votes respectively, both denied the
incumbent an endorsement.
Bayrou said his personal vote would go to Hollande, while Le Pen
said she would cast a blank vote, France 24 reported.
At 79.9 percent, according to Ipsos, voter turnout was strong,
though slightly lower than the figure reached in 2007.
Hollande will be sworn in May 14 or 15.
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