Nicolas Sarkozy, France's Right Wing Take Beating in Regional Elections

French President Nicolas Sarkozy suffered a setback on Sunday as a left-wing coalition of socialists and environmentalists took substantial majorities in the country's regional elections. Sarkozy's right-wing UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) received just 36 percent of the vote, while the left took 54 percent. Far-right groups made a strong showing in some regions.
As Sarkozy has worked to implement a number of controversial reforms involving pensions for government workers and easing restrictions on businesses, Socialist party leader Martine Aubry said the election results were an "unprecedented victory" for the left, the Guardian reported. The opposition party frequently wins the regional elections, but this year's victory for the left topped its last regional success in 2004, the Associated Press reported.

The economy was the main issue that drove the resurgence, as many French voters worried that Sarkozy's pension reforms would shrink their retirement income. Train drivers, one of the groups targeted, planned to strike on Tuesday, along with teachers protesting job cuts. Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the elections showed voter concern, but said that France cannot continue to finance its welfare state without cost-cutting measures.

Amid speculation that he would shake up his cabinet, Sarkozy spent Monday morning in conference with Fillon at the Élysée Palace, the French presidential mansion in Paris. Sarkozy has become known for sprinkling his government with socialists, some of whom might lose their jobs after the UMP's electoral drubbing, France24 reported. Sarkozy reportedly asked Fillon not to resign in order to avoid dramatizing the defeat.