Belgian Media Predicts Sarkozy Win
Belgian media outlets are reporting that it appears that Nicolas Sarkozy has won the French presidential election run-off with between 53 and 54% of the vote.
The RTBF public broadcasting station and the newspaper Le Soir reported on their websites that unofficial estimates showed Sarkozy beating Socialist Segolene Royal comfortably.
French law bans the publication of any exit polls or projections in France until after the last polling stations close in big cities at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT).
Stand by for trouble. Segolene Royal practically called for riots to follow a Sarkozy win. And the media has carried repeated dire warnings from "youths" in the Paris suburbs promising to carry those riots out. It will be a long night in Paris, I'm afraid. Thousands of riot police have been deployed according to the Times of London.
Thousands of riot police will be deployed in Paris tonight after warnings that victory for Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative candidate in today’s presidential election, could spark violent protests.
Fears of a repeat of the rioting that swept France two years ago intensified as the final opinion polls pointed to an overwhelming victory for Sarkozy. A crowd of up to 40,000 Sarkozy supporters was expected on the Champs Elysées in central Paris to celebrate the result. Police believe that gangs of youths from the suburbs might confront them.
Sarkozy has promised a “fraternal” republic but said last week that he did not regret having described young delinquents as “scum” in 2005 in remarks widely believed to have ignited the rioting.
The interior ministry said that 8,000 riot police were being placed on stand-by in the suburbs — equivalent to the force deployed at the height of the violence, when 10,000 cars and dozens of businesses were burnt in three weeks of mayhem.
This might be a rough period for the French.
World news | Gaius Sunday, 6 May , 2007
By Purple Avenger, Sunday, 6 May , 2007 @ 8:13 pm
Fears of a repeat of the rioting that swept France two years ago
The rioting is ongoing, every day 7×24x365. On average about 100 cars are torched every day. Its become routine, so its no longer news.
Sarkozy won’t be able to do any significant reforming, the damage is too extensive and ingrained. He’ll be doing something if he can simply get the torchings down into low double digits. The unions are hopeless and intractable, nothing will happen on that front.