Nicolas Sarkozy: 23rd President Of France!

[Nano]

Yes, the presidential election. I assumed you were talking about that...

And we know about that voting system. We call that "the French system"

They have also a special system to calculate interests. Ah, le French...

[dfc99bb]

What do the results of this past weekend's elections mean for Sarkozy? From what I've been reading here, he won a majority but smaller than expected. The French election process needs some explaining too.

[Videoskooter]

Sarkozy's party, the UMP, got a majority, although not so overwhelming as expected, but now he escapes the feared "Cohabitation", the almost unworkable government where a president has another political "colour" than the parliament.

Now he can proceed with his plans to reform the country, backed by his own party in parliament. A little bit the same as in the US where Bush now is facing opposition in both chambers, runned by Democrats.

In Belgium, f.i., the prime minister or premier is the head of state (our King has almost no powers) but is always a member of the ruling majority. We don't elect our premier as it is the tradition that the party with the most votes delivers the head of state. That's the difference, same goes for Holland.

[Nano]

hey I saw that "drunk" video after he was with Putin, what happened man

BTW I read that he lost 40 places in Representatives even as he won the election

hey now it seems I'm an expert, don't believe that

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by Nano

hey I saw that "drunk" video after he was with Putin, what happened man

Oops, Nano, Sarkozy never drinks alcohol!!! The press already has apologized to him for insinuating that he was drunk there! He had to run the stairs because he was an hour late for that press conference and that was confirmed by independent sources.

Let's see what he will do now since a lot of his plans are not very popular in France, but hey, they elected him and like my good friend Paul always says: "If the peeps elect him, then who are we to judge that"

BTW, Belgium is completely blocked now, the Flemish and the Walloons are hardly on speaking terms with each other and...they have to form a government together

[paul]

Oops, Nano, Sarkozy never drinks alcohol!!! The press already has apologized to him for insinuating that he was drunk there! He had to run the stairs because he was an hour late for that press conference and that was confirmed by independent sources.

Let's see what he will do now since a lot of his plans are not very popular in France, but hey, they elected him and like my good friend Paul always says: "If the peeps elect him, then who are we to judge that"

Exactly. To borrow a quote, elections have consequences.

BTW, Belgium is completely blocked now, the Flemish and the Walloons are hardly on speaking terms with each other and...they have to form a government together

So are the different parties shutting the government down?

[buckaroo]

J'ai peur. Parce que je pense Sarkozy seras trés mauvais pour le pay.
Il y a plus de manifestation venir dans le futur en France.

[paul]

So you think there will protests in France? They just elected a guy who from what I understand had policies that were familiar to voters. I guess we'll see.

[Nano]

after seeing that video, I'd say he was running for some vodka

[Videoskooter]

I saw the man this morning!

He's in Brussels for the Euro-top (I was in Brussels too but not exactly for the Euro-top ) and he was jogging in the royal park accompanied by a troop of bodyguards.

He looks sporty, I can tell you that!!!!

[buckaroo]

Originally Posted by paul

So you think there will protests in France? They just elected a guy who from what I understand had policies that were familiar to voters. I guess we'll see.

What is the voting system like in France? I've been there a fair few times but don't know for sure . I just remember what happened when Dominic Devillepain tried his reforms on the youth. Here (The UK) the votes don't represent us, as about half the country didn't take part in the last elections, and Labour (Tony Blair) got back in!! He's had it now anyway, but his replacement is just plain frightening!!!!