Hollande Beats Sarkozy in French Election
Polling projections and a partial vote count show Francois Hollande becoming the first Socialist president of France in nearly two decades.
With half the votes counted nationwide, Hollande was leading the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent. Sarkozy, the center-left candidate, was considered the favored candidate among French Jews.
Polls showed Hollande finishing with about 52 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Sarkozy, , of the Union for a Popular Movement party, would be the first French president to lose re-election in 30 years.
Hollande would become France’s first Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand, who served from 1981 to 1995.
Sarkozy would be the ninth European leader to be ousted since the start of the continent’s debt crisis, Bloomberg reported.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
