French left claims historic Senate majority victory

The French left won a Senate majority, the upper house of the French parliament, for the first time since World War II on the 25 September 2011, in a power shift that could have serious ramifications on right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2012 re-election bid.

The Senate is elected mainly by local councillors. Only half of the 348 seats were up for re-election, with a total electorate of just under 72,000.

• Primary Source

The Local.fr, 25.9.11: French left claims historic Senate win http://www.thelocal.fr/1285/20110925/

France; Senate http://www.senat.fr/lng/en/index.html

Wikipedia: Senate of France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_of_France

ESO: Background information: French presidential election, 2012 http://www.europeansources.info/record/french-presidential-election-2012/

Libération, 26.9.11: Shift to the Left for Senate (via PressEurop) http://www.presseurop.eu//en/content/news-brief-cover/991421-shift-left-senate

Spiegel Online International, 27.9.11: 'Sarkozy Has Lost the Heart of France' http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,788608,00.html

Deutsche Welle, 25.9.11: Sarkozy hit hard as French left seizes Senate majority http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15415378,00.html

BBC News, 26.9.11: French left captures Senate in setback for Sarkozy http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15055729

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