FRANCE: Scenting a Socialist victory, Hollande supporters kick off celebrations as Sarkozy supporters appear tense

Record ID: 863514

  • Title: FRANCE: Scenting a Socialist victory, Hollande supporters kick off celebrations as Sarkozy supporters appear tense
  • Date: 7th May 2012
  • Summary: CROWD
  • Embargoed: 22nd May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • City:
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAD2UP54FX0PAFVWLUASJBP0OXJ
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  • Story Text: French Socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande's supporters begin to celebrate as victory looks to be within reach. In the UMP camp, the mood was more subdued with Nicolas Sarkozy's supporters hoping for a miracle.
    Scenting a Socialist victory after 17 years, supporters kicked of celebrations in Paris on Sunday (May 6), outside the party headquarters.
    Waving flags and chanting, supporters were exuberant and excited.
    In Bastille, where the main Socialist celebrations are expected, crowds began gathering ready to party into the night.
    At the UMP's celebrations, supporters seemed more subdued as they gathered to support their candidate Nicolas Sarkozy.
    With defeat looking more and more likely for the incumbent president, the mood was more restrained than at the Socialist camp.
    "It's quite tense here, we are a bit nervous. We really hope that Nicolas is going to win but we are a bit nervous," one supporter Alexa Mongin said.
    If Hollande wins, France will be marking a swing to the left at the heart of Europe and heralding a fight-back against German-led austerity.
    Conservative President Sarkozy, swamped by anger at a surge in unemployment during his five-year term, would be the 11th euro zone leader to be swept away by economic crisis after final opinion polls put Hollande at least four points ahead.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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