With neither candidate getting over 50% of the vote, France’s presidential election will be decided in a run-off election on May 6. Nicolas Sarkozy, characterized as the pro-west, pro-capitalism candidate got 30.44 percent of the vote and Segolene Royal, the socialist candidate got 24.79 percent of the vote. The French people now have a stark choice before them.
But don’t expect that the runoff will produce the same outcome. Royal had a significant opponent, François Bayrou, a centrist candidate who got 18.31 percent of the vote. The determining factor will be where that 18.31 percent chooses to hang their hat. Â
They each have their views on how to save the French economy. Sarkozy’s idea is through capitalism and by reducing taxes from 60% to 50%, and have more flexible weekly work hours. Royal, on the other hand, wants to spur the economy by increasing the minimum wage by 20 percent and adding half a million government subsidized jobs and a shorter work week, more holidays, more benefits, less employer autonomy.
What Sir Winston Churchill said:
| We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. |
Here’s hoping the French people will see that the Sarkozy ideology will be their best bet for whatever they think ailes them.
