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France, which has for a long time been the most leftist of the modern industrial nations, is finally embracing the free market. The new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has vowed to disassemble the 35-hour working week, cut taxes, weaken the unions and guarantee minimum service on public transport during strikes. All of these have been key features of France’s socialist state. On Sunday, June 10, in the first round of the parliamentary elections Sarkozy received a clear mandate to carry out his reforms. His party, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), won 42% of the vote, while the next closest, the Socialist Party, only won 28%. It is believed that the UMP will end up with anywhere between 381-505 of the 577 seats in France’s national assembly. With such a majority Sarkozy will be able to free France’s economy from the shackles of socialism.

Sunday’s election also dismantled the entire left of France. The major leftist party, the Socialist Party, is in complete disarray after humiliating losses in the presidential elections and now the parliamentary elections. Also, the Communist Party, which at one time was a serious force in French politics, won only 4.3% of the vote, and the Green Party, which was expected to make a strong showing, only managed to garner 3.3%. The leftists now are in a very difficult position because if they stick to their beliefs they will continue to shrink to insignificance in French politics. Their only option at this point is to accept some free market reforms, as the major leftist parties in the UK, Germany, and other nations have.

While France still has a long way to go, it appears as if they are on their way to eliminating the socialist state which has caused economic stagnation for many years. Sarkozy has received his mandate from the people, it is now up to him to transform France into a free market economy.

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The Sarkozy Receives Mandate in Parliamentary Elections by New School Politics, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.