French Election: Sarkozy vs Royal
The first round of the French election is finished, with a record turnout of over 85%. The two candidates with the highest vote totals have advanced to the next round. Click here for a rundown of the policy differences between conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and socialist Segolene Royal.
Sarkozy appears to the be the more competent of the two. Though he has his faults, at least he realizes that the French economic system is in need of serious reform. Royal, on the other hand, is running on the back of an unaffordable wish list of market-distorting policies. Also, she has gone out of her way to prove her incompetence in foreign affairs. Among her most famous gaffes: suggesting that sanctions be imposed on the Taliban (apparently unaware that they were removed from power by the US invasion of Afghanistan) and praising the Chinese legal system as "faster" than France's. (A pesky respect for human rights does tend to clog up the courts.)
More on this later.
1 comment:
i believe the french tend to refer to mme royale as simply "segolene" (or "sego" if you want to get really familiar). interesting how we tend to refer to the women in politics by their first names (ex. condoleeza and hillary) and the men by their last. this was a fine point raised in the cosa presentation following my own- too bad you didnt stick around! (even if you dont speak french...)
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