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(回答先: フランス:統一地方選実施 左派勝利の見通し [毎日新聞] 投稿者 あっしら 日時 2004 年 3 月 29 日 01:01:20)
シラク政権敗北。いわゆる「大敗」だそうです。
Reuters.co.uk
http://www.reuters.co.uk/
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=3L2WMFGNEQ2VWCRBAELCFEY?type=worldNews&storyID=484467§ion=news
French government routed in regional vote
Sun 28 March, 2004 20:48
By Timothy Heritage
PARIS (Reuters) - France's left-wing opposition has crushed President Jacques Chirac's ruling conservatives in a regional election, paving the way for a government reshuffle and raising doubts about the pace of economic reforms.
Exit polls on Sunday showed the Socialist Party and its allies, buoyed by discontent with government cost-cutting, had won about 50 percent of the votes and control of most of the 26 regional councils.
The centre-right won around 37 percent and the far-right about 14 percent of the votes in the second round run-offs, which showed a huge swing of support away from the governing UMP party following a wave of protests and strikes over its reforms.
"The President of the Republic is the main person responsible," said Jean-Marc Ayrault, leader of the Socialist deputies in parliament. "This (cost-cutting) policy must be changed. The French have said it clearly."
Ashen-faced Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, whose own position is at risk, went on national television to say that the government would not abandon reforms intended to cut the soaring public finance deficit in the eurozone's second largest economy.
"The reforms must continue simply because they are necessary...(But) policies must be more efficient and fair, and it is certain that some changes must be made," he said.
Alain Juppe, head of Chirac's UMP, added: "We have started, we have sown the seeds. Therefore we must continue to act."
But despite the government's pledges to press on with reforms, and possibly to accelerate them, economic analysts said the crushing defeat could weaken its resolve to go as far or as fast as planned in welfare reforms.
RESHUFFLE EXPECTED
Chirac is not obliged to act on the result of the election, seen as a mid-term test of his policies three years before the next presidential election.
But a cabinet reshuffle has been widely expected since the left easily won the first round of voting on March 21.
Labour Minister Francois Fillion hinted at a reshuffle. "We have a problem with the people which cannot be resolved without deep changes in the way we are organised," he said.
Chirac's UMP had controlled 14 regions since the last regional vote in 1998 and the left had held 11.
The left made a big rebound from the 2002 parliamentary election, when it lost power with 37 percent of votes compared to the centre-right's 43 percent.
It is expected to use its regional gains as a platform for the 2007 presidential and parliamentary contests.
High unemployment, an unpopular reform of the state pensions system and threatened cuts to the costly medical insurance system have wrecked Raffarin's ratings.
In recent months, teachers, hospital workers, scientists and firemen have all demonstrated against government moves to cut the public deficit and rein in welfare spending.
The foreign and defence ministers are widely expected to stay on in any reshuffle.
Popular Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is tipped to win broader responsibilities and could become prime minister. But his poor relations with Chirac and his overt presidential ambitions could work against him taking Raffarin's place.
There is no other obvious candidate to replace Raffarin.
The new-look cabinet could see centrist towns minister Jean-Louis Borloo promoted to head a new ministry for "social cohesion and integration" -- part of a drive to convince voters the government has understood their concerns.