Hollande may save us all, Sarkozy will continue the flawed policies which have brought europe to where it is... Pity there is no easy solution...

Hollande seems like his heart is in the right place but he may suck as a politician/leader. Sarkozy is known to be a douche. So there's your choice.

Sarkozy is a much better name for an oversized poodle than is Hollande. Let's stick with Sarkozy.

I'd say both candidates are horrible for Europe, each in its own distinct, horrible way. :-)

Vote Hollande for sanity's sake. But then I can't understand how anyone with any sense could have voted for Boris so what do I know !

Is he the guy with the cool haircut? I'd definitely go for it.

@ hammac

Because Red Ken was the other guy?

Nah, Boris is a good bloke. Damned clever, pro-business, pro-London and a good sense of humour to boot. He'd wipe the floor with Sarky and Holly without breaking a sweat.

But as long as we're being shallow Sarkozy's wife is certainly not something I'm going to complain about.

Ron Paul 2012

J'espere que Sarkozy va perdre. Ses politiques d'austérité sont une catastrophe. Son régime abrogé la loi sur le harcèlement sexuel aussi.

Looks like Putin got his wish. To all Europeans: let's all scream and panic a bit and then pretend it ever happened.

I'm not sad Sarkozy lost because I like him (far from it, it's because of him we went into Libya like we did) but now the conservative coalition party Chirac built could fall apart and the Front Nationale step in to be the opposition to the Socialists. Sarko blew, but without him France may have to choose between spendthrift pinkos and a party made up of racists and economically illiterate, head-in-the-sand reactionaries. Not exactly what you want from the country that has historically been the face of European policy making.

Zombie Charles De Gaulle

Merde

@invictus : i'm not sad that Sarkozy lead us into Libya, but i'm cynical about his decision to make himself appear awesome, similar to his reaction to the russian invasion of georgia... He jumped into action.

However cynical i may be about his motives, i do at least appreciate his leadership; much better than some european leaders who shat around doing SFA.

Still that doesn't mean i like his poly-ticks (poly~many, ticks~a bloodsucking creature)

I believe the main achievement of French administrators is always to make their country seem much more awesome and important than it really is. The French-German axis exists, as they say, "to camouflage both German strength and French weakness". I wonder how much this election will really affect anything.

Well, this is a question answered now--it's Hollande.

Don't know much about him...after all, American politics here at home are enough, and then caring about British and Israeli politics because of personal interests in those counties...can't keep up with everyone--

What does everyone think of Hollande?

The UMP is not going to dissolve, what on earth is Invictus talking about? Sarkozy, despite his massive unpopularity, still managed to win a high percentage, meaning his party is still very organized (and Sarkozy is a Nixonian style dirty trick campaigner). Anyway Chirac himself apparently didn't think that defeating Sarkozy would lead to his coalition falling apart, considering he endorsed Hollande, calling him a 'true statesman'.

The much vaunted Sarkozy-Merkel love affair resulted in little more than dithering and myopic austerity as the European economy fell into a double-dip recession. And if the PS are 'pinkos', I'm an astronaut. The Parti Socialiste abandoned any inkling of socialism long ago in the Mitterand years.

Hollande is a generic consensus manager type. He is not a firebrand by any stretch, and he's a very experienced political operator. I mean this guy overcame the fact that one of his main rivals, Royal, is his estranged partner/mother of his children. Royal endorsed him. He overcame the DSK fiasco. He overcame the unusually intense scrutiny paid to his companion, Ms. Trierweiler, who Sarkozy had the police investigate (illegally).

Every dirty trick the slimy Sarkozy threw at Hollande and the PS, he overcame.

But it says something that Redhouse & Invictus freak out even if a generic center-left politician wins office. What exactly impressed you about Sarkozy? His repeal of the sexual harassment laws? His continual race-baiting whenever his popularity sagged? His total disregard for the political independence of the French courts?

Also, not that I'm any fan of the Front, but Marie Le Pen ran a very slick campaign. She moderated the party quite a bit from the days of her scum father. Her positions on a lot of issues actually seem fairly reasonable, especially her foreign policy. She alone criticized the Libya intervention.

Predictions on New Cabinet?

Ayrault for Prime Minister?
Sapin for Finance Minister?
Fabius for Foreign Minister?
Valls for Interior?

But then what for Aubry? Moscovici? I'd pick Aubry for PM, so that 'gender parity' doesn't mean filling all the lower level positions with women and giving all the top spots to men. But Aubry doesn't get along with Hollande, so I doubt it.

"But it says something that Redhouse & Invictus freak out even if a generic center-left politician wins office. What exactly impressed you about Sarkozy?"

Not precisely; I made a joken, and frankly found François Hollande by far the better debater of the two. Also, I don't believe France is sufficiently important for this kind of decision to really matter in the "grand scheme of things". :-)

And I believe the cabinet appointments are still pretty much dependent on the parliamentary elections in june right? I guess Aubry for prime minister makes sense, Fabius will probably have a high-ranking position, who are the others?

If France is not important what country in Europe is, Les Pays-Bas? Dutch chauvinism is so strange.

:-)

I think the fact that the French just elected a Mr. Hollande can be considered no less than an act of submission to our great nation.

Perpetuating the mistaken idea that Holland is a synonym for the Netherlands? Tut, tut.

"And I believe the cabinet appointments are still pretty much dependent on the parliamentary elections in june right?"

Sure, but that should be a solid majority for the PS.

"who are the others?"

Sapin served as finance minister in previous governments and is a close friend of Hollande from school. Moscovici is the campaign manager for Hollande. Valls is head of media relations. Ayrault is head of the PS in the Assembly.

Putin, we need to get one little thing straight: my country, so I decide how I name it. Hmmkay?

Ok, and we'll call America - Ohio, cuz I said so.

No, we'll call your country the Evil Empire, because you like to think of it that way. :-)

am I the only person who likes Sarkozy and feel bad for him? He inherited all his problems and did a half decent job at repairing them.

Europe is now officially fucked with Hollande in power.

75% tax rate for the rich=they'll move to America
Lowering retirement age to 60=An already broke pension system becomes even more broke.
Renogotiating the fiscal compact of the Eurozone=Deadlock in European Monetary and Fiscal policy when action is needed most.

Its like he wants to fuck over Europe.