For only the second time in the history of France's Fifth Republic, a Socialist Party candidate, François Hollande, has won that nation's presidential vote.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the center-Right President of France, is out -- and along with him the most serious ally of Die Eisen Kanzellerin Angela Merkel's insistence on linking the salvation of the European Union with fiscal Austerity.
Sarkozy is the first major European New Austerian to be defenestrated by his country's electorate over the failure of France's economy -- and he may not be the last. Ironic, when you consider that Sarkozy and Merkel had helped to effectively force 'regime change' in Greece, Spain, (England could possibly be counted, too) Portugal, and Italy.
The New York Times reported that Austerity received additional blows in Greek and German elections as well:
Greek voters sent their own message against austerity. They handed the two main parties, both of which had pledged to follow harsh international bailout terms, significant losses as they streamed to parties on the far left and far right that have opposed budget cuts. In the process, voters cast into question the ability of any party to form a government soon, let alone continue with the austerity program.What Goes Around, Comes Around.
...The French and Greek elections were closely watched in European capitals and particularly in Berlin, where Ms. Merkel has led the drive to cure the euro zone debt and banking crisis with deep budget cuts and caps on future spending...
... Ms. Merkel herself was embroiled in electoral politics on Sunday, suffering setbacks in elections in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, where her party appeared to be losing its hold on the state Parliament. With another election coming May 13 in North Rhine-Westphalia, Ms. Merkel is not viewed as having much room domestically to compromise on the critical issues of inflation and debt limits.
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