Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin faced an uncertain future yesterday after regional polls dealt a stinging blow to his center-right government hobbled by high unemployment and growing labor protest.
He also suffered a humiliating personal defeat, seeing the opposition Socialists sweep the Poitou-Charentes region he led for 14 years before becoming prime minister in 2002.
The mainstream left won 40 percent of the vote while the center-right slumped to 34 percent and the far-right National Front rallied a strong 17 percent protest vote.
"Bye-bye Raffarin," the left-wing daily Liberation wrote. The business daily Les Echos said: "There are strong chances that the days of the Raffarin government are numbered." France 2 television saw Raffarin and this government "in the hot seat."
Voting in France's 22 mainland and four overseas regions goes into the run-off round next Sunday with the left -- which ran about one-third of them before -- aiming to take up to half the regions, pollsters said.
The vote sent a warning to Paris over the high 9.6 percent unemployment and state spending cuts that have provoked strikes. It also prompted calls for votes against anti-immigrant leader Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front in the second round.
Raffarin somberly defended policies of trying to return Europe's second largest economy to more robust growth in a brief televised statement, but made no mention of any policy changes and said nothing about his own future.
"I have listened to the French people. Region by region ... the message has been expressed. I will take it into account," Raffarin, whose popularity has slumped in recent months, said in brief televised comments.
"We will take the necessary decisions for our future, for the future of our country, which will respond to the impatience but also the hopes of the French people."
The outcome was a big decline for the ruling parties from the parliamentary election in 2002, when the center-right won more than 43 percent of votes, the left secured a little over 37 percent and the National Front got just over 11 percent.
The regional vote has only a symbolic impact on the government, but Chirac could reluctantly remove his ally Raffarin in a cabinet reshuffle if the second round goes badly.
Political analysts said only a second round rout could prompt a U-turn on policies of privatization, deregulation and cost-cutting reforms, but the Cabinet could rethink the pace and depth of change in sensitive areas such as the health service.
The mainstream left hailed its resurgence after being swept from power in 2002. Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande said: "The people have made a big statement. And this statement is to punish the government's policies."
For its part, the National Front secured a repeat of its strong showing in the second round of the 2002 presidential election, when veteran leader Jean-Marie Le Pen won 17.8 percent of the votes and finished second to Chirac.
The party will contest 17 of the 26 regions in the second round run-offs, draining votes from the mainstream right.
Its success followed heightened fears over terrorism in France since the March 11 Madrid bombings and threats to blow up the French railway system by a shadowy group demanding money.
The National Front and the left cashed in on recent protests by teachers, hospital workers and researchers against moves to plug France's gaping public deficit and shrink its welfare state. Anger is also mounting over unemployment of 9.6 percent.
France's regions have less power than corresponding German states or Spanish provinces, but can decide on matters such as schools and transport.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS