France Election Results 2012: Hollande, Sarkozy Advance To French President Runoff

PARIS (AP) — Official partial results: Hollande, Sarkozy advance to French presidential election runoff.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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• <a href=" http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6106250.ece" target="_hplink">According</a> to the <em>Sunday Times</em>, Sarkozy said of President Obama: "[He] has a subtle mind, very clever and very charismatic...but he was elected two months ago and had never run a ministry. There are a certain number of things on which he has no position. And he is not always up to standard on decision-making and efficiency."

• In Jonathan Alter's 2010 book <em>The Promise</em>, the author <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/10/sarkozy-sex-rumor-book-cl_n_569459.html" target="_hplink">claims</a> that Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni kept a senior head of state waiting while they had sex. Although the French first couple is notoriously late, many have speculated that the "senior head of state" in question is Queen Elizabeth II.

• Of Angela Merkel, Sarkozy is quoted as <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8269855/Nicolas-Sarkozys-gaffes.html" target="_hplink">saying</a> the German Chancellor had "no choice but to give in to my line."

• During the height of the financial crisis, Sarkozy<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/gordon-brown/6341259/Nicolas-Sarkozy-tells-Gordon-Brown-I-love-you...-But-not-in-a-sexual-way.html" target="_hplink"> reportedly</a> told former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown: "You know, Gordon, I should not like you. You are Scottish, we have nothing in common and you are an economist. But somehow, Gordon, I love you... But not in a sexual way."

• In reference to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Sarkozy <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6106250.ece" target="_hplink">reportedly</a> said, "Perhaps he's not very clever -- but I know people who were very clever and who did not make the second round of the presidential election."

• In November 2007, Sarkozy was accused of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6532711/Berlin-Wall-anniversary-doubts-cast-over-Nicolas-Sarkozys-pickaxe-claim.html" target="_hplink">overstating</a> his part in the fall of the Berlin Wall, after he claimed to have rushed with a pickax in hand the night it fell. Archives suggested he only showed up a week later.

• At a 2008 agricultural fair in Paris, Sarkozy got into a tiff with a member of the crowd who wouldn't shake his hand,<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2454109820080224" target="_hplink"> reportedly</a> telling the man: "Get lost, you dumb a**."

• Much like Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Sarkozy has been accused of racism, <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6106250.ece" target="_hplink">reportedly </a>telling a black priest, "My compliments, you are very suntanned," and an African boy, "I wish I had as much time to lie in the sun as you do."

• In April 2010, Sarkozy scolded a young man at a rally in the city of Chambery on Thursday, yelling, "Fais pas le malin!" or "Don't be a wise guy," after the man pretended to wipe his hand after shaking the president's. A <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfEQEYbLn8w&feature=player_embedded" target="_hplink">clip</a> of the incident went viral shortly thereafter.

• During a November 2010 NATO briefing, Sarkozy <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/23/nicolas-sarkozy-paedophiles-french-president" target="_hplink">reportedly</a> lashed out with a 10-minute diatribe against journalists, before walked off, declaring: "See you tomorrow, pedophile friends."

Comments

[zooks1]

04:31 PM on 04/23/2012

Sarkozy most likely will be out, France is facing major austerity measures due to debt and the costs of their entitlments, even with high taxes they can not sustain the current path.One cost crippling htme is healthcare which is beig cut .. The people are not happy with the concept of sacrifice and will vote him out . To think they only have 65 million people , and we have almost 70 million on some form of govt assistance.

[Cory Gudwin]

12:23 PM on 04/23/2012

Economic growth [or complete lack of it] will be the final verdict on leadership by Hollande.
There will be no one remaining to reign in the absurd excesses of the public unions in France.
All this soak-the-rich rhetoric we have heard before. It cannot and will not ever happen. Not in France. Not anywhere, really. Because there is nothing more mobile than big money.
And Hollande knows that.

[Tuula Westra]

09:31 AM on 04/23/2012

Monsieur Z, ca c'est a tres bien a faite, je vous suhaite bonne chance.

[septsong]

10:36 AM on 04/23/2012

transaction please lol such a pretty sounding language..love to hear it spoken

[michiemead]

12:20 PM on 04/23/2012

Yes, but unfortunately, what the lady said was total gibberish. It looks good to a non- speaker or reader of French, but makes no sense to someone who actually knows the language.

[hegelian]

09:26 AM on 04/23/2012

Well if Hollande was a real socialist he would work with the people to abolish money instead of reforming capitalism, but same story as usual. In the meantime off with Sarko and certainly Le Pen.

[hopewlguy]

08:55 AM on 04/23/2012

Sarkozy is my 5th cousin. I want him to win. I want versailles for the week.

[thefacts22]

08:07 AM on 04/23/2012

We dont know yet what will come out of this as this is not the final election. The resurgence of the right in Europe is very frighteninng. The extreme right is as dangerous as the extreme left. Some European newspapers are reporting that this can go either way.
The vote in the first round that is 99% the center, the right and the Extreme Right have majority. Sarkozy's vote at 27.08%, Francois Bayrour 9.11%, Nicolas Dupont Aignan (1.80%) and Marine Le Pen (18,10%) give us a total of 56,09 % of the votes in the first round. Hollande's vote (28,63 %), Jean-Luc Mélenchon (11,13 %), Eva Joly (2,28) and the 2 groups of Extreme Left (1,72 %) which adds 43,76 % of left votes for the first round.

In the first part conservative and ultra conservative France, had a big majorirty of 56,09 % of votes. The France from the left had a Minority of only 43.76 of the votes. It will be irresponsible to jump into conclusions. After all Hollande is not a fanatical socialist as obama is.

[robertstone1robert]

06:19 AM on 04/23/2012

Sarkosy, although flawed, is the better alternative. Socialism is a catchword for, among other things, isolationism. Today it's a global village.

[gracecfl]

07:27 AM on 04/23/2012

Sarkozy is a right wing politician trying to lead a center-left-wing country. France's socialism consists of worker's rights, universal healthcare and affordable education. Today it's definitely a global village and those countries which have some kind of social programs can actively participate. What would happen to America if we got rid of anything remotely socialist? Like social security, unemployment insurance, worker's rights, public schools, libraries, public interstates, police, fire departments and the military?We'd turn into a 3rd world one party dictatorship.. There needs to be a balance, caring capitalism.

[jshms]

08:29 AM on 04/23/2012

two of what you mentioned are guaranteed by the constitution

[robertstone1robert]

10:09 AM on 04/23/2012

I don't see what you're getting so agitated about. Much of what you say is enshrined as concepts of social welfare. I agree there has to be capitalism with a conscience. There can't be asinine laws about a work-week that is so short nothing gets accomplished. You have to know that these programs all have to be paid for with your money.

[michiemead]

12:23 PM on 04/23/2012

Do you mean isolationism, as in "Buy American?" Surely, buying products from other countries means that they can make a living in their own countries and not have to come here, a major sticking point for those against illegal immigration.

[robertstone1robert]

02:31 PM on 04/23/2012

Just to point out a flaw in your assessment China had a trade deficit in Feb. yet they have a lot of trouble eking out a living.
By isolationism, I'll cite one example. In Libya the Europeans did the bulk of the heavy lifting. This will not happen under Socialism.

[az0th]

02:13 AM on 04/23/2012

Merkel will have one less flunky to echo her "prosperity through austerity" hogwash. Hollande may be bland, but at least he understands stimulating the economy near term matters more than deficit reduction.

[thefacts22]

07:09 AM on 04/23/2012

Hollande is much less "progressive"than oba

[michiemead]

12:25 PM on 04/23/2012

Why is bland bad? Surely, people need a politician who is good at his or her job! Why do we also want them to have the charisma of a rock star?

[Stavo]

12:15 AM on 04/23/2012

Bet there is a whole lot of hopping around and croaking going on in the old cow town tonight. l

[gracecfl]

07:28 AM on 04/23/2012

Really? Sounds like my neighborhood, the bullfrogs were out big time last night. Didn't have to go to France to see that!

[rasputinsstash]

11:46 PM on 04/22/2012

The Asian markets are all down this morning. They aren't thrilled with Sarkozy's 2nd place finish. But, the Asian markets are always lagging indicaters, not ptodictive ones. We'll have to wait and see what the Euromarkets say. Given the French elections bent toward the left, I'm betting the DJIA opens lower this morning.

[DrMaxChartrand]

10:59 PM on 04/22/2012

Sarkozy has a quite accurate picture of Obama's leadership prowesss. Being glib or possessing charm does not make up to lacking of skills of governance and leadership. Making people envious of others' wealth does not provide upward mobility. Forcing a costly healthcare system on the population that its creators would not be caught dead being subject to does not provide good health care. It has too many flaws and will crash of its own weight if the Supreme Court does not kill it before it crushes the economy. Teleprompters, class warfare, and hyperinflation of the currency do not leadership make.

[tkns]

01:29 AM on 04/23/2012

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Looks like Fox news hasn't changed their conversation. Look at the economy he inherited and the improvement now. The man who attacked America and took 3,000+ lives lived and kept releasing audio tapes taunting us throughout Bush's term. He doesn't do that anymore-oh wait Obama smoked him out. But keep chanting Fox news long enough and you start believeing them.

[RockyMissouri]

01:10 PM on 04/23/2012

Well said...!

[Giggie]

05:27 AM on 04/23/2012

"making people envious of other's wealth"....what have you been drinking? How about pointing out how the wealthy who support the tea party repubs are the ones who drove this economy to the brink. Under Bush, the wall street wolves raped the financial security of the midfle class, allowed the insurance companies and the medical industry to strangle the economy, and started a 10 year over a lie. They have absolutely no sense of
shared sacrifice, and no conscience regarding the millions that will be left without medical insurance. You think that increasing the debt to try and improve and stimulate the economy is bad leadership.....republican solutions will hardly stimulate the economy, under their "trickle down voodoo" economics, the only ones that prospered were the wealthy. Everyone else was worse off...alot worse off, and it made the country ill

[jshms]

08:32 AM on 04/23/2012

you forget the lack of action the democrats showed in thwarting this and actually protecting their bad ideas

[Stevenson52]

10:44 PM on 04/22/2012

This is the featured story??? Who's been drinking?

[Jonathan Chong]

02:41 AM on 04/23/2012

Perhaps you. It's the 5th largest economy on earth with a seat on the Security Council and key military and trading ties to the U.S. but it must not be as important as, oh, i don't know... the Bahrain Grand Prix? Editor: more world stories, not fewer, please.

[Stevenson52]

03:58 AM on 04/23/2012

My point is, where's the story? This is a blurb. Hold your insults.

[gracecfl]

07:33 AM on 04/23/2012

Stevenson doesn't care what happens more than 5 miles from where he lives. If he wants news, he turns on Fox or listens to Rush. France is moving from the right wing to the center left and it's a trend happening all over the world. The left is in power, then in comes the right and screws things up so badly that the left comes back into power. It will be that way until politicians get it right. :-)

[fuddhouz]

10:07 PM on 04/22/2012

BUT....Sarkozy and Obama both hate Netenyahu. Selling out Israel makes an unbreakable bond. Give Iran the bomb, boys! :)

[gracecfl]

07:33 AM on 04/23/2012

A lot of other politicians don't like Netanyahu, so your point is?

[benzmer1]

01:30 PM on 04/23/2012

What other leaders think is not as important as what his countrymen think. This guy looks out for his people and their freedoms first....Name another like him today...And I am not jewish by the way....

[lulubelle1956]

10:00 PM on 04/22/2012

sarkozy follows a trickle down laissez faire theory while unemployment has now reached 12 percent. hollande wants to raise taxes on people making incomes of over a million and push through job creation programs which will employ people whose taxes, along with taxes on the millionaires, will help lower the deficit. if i was french, i'd vote for hollande!

[KawaiiKoshka]

10:26 PM on 04/22/2012

WAIT SERIOUSLY? Unemployment at 12%? You realize that average unemployment in France is 15-20% right? (not like the 7% here in the US) THATS AMAZING. Also, Hollande is a socialist who wants to significantly increase school time and kind of spells doom for young people in France. And he's basically going to take a wrecking ball to the current, delicate balance of the EU and quite literally eradicate the amicable Merkozy thing goin' on over there.

[Nardac]

02:25 AM on 04/23/2012

And you realize that France has has a free-market, conservative government for most of the past 18 years, don't you? And yet unemployment is higher than ever. Maybe they want to try something different. Good for them.

[HappyBrit]

05:24 AM on 04/23/2012

Increasing school time spells doom for young people?

[rasputinsstash]

09:06 PM on 04/22/2012

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.