This weekend voters in Greece, France and Egypt took to the ballot box.
This weekend voters in Greece, France and Egypt took to the ballot box.
The Greek election resulted in a victory of the New Democracy party, which supports Greece staying in the eurozone. As described by The Guardian, the country has avoided “drachmageddon.” The next step is to form a coalition government. However, the newspaper notes that the vote wasn’t enough to calm down European markets:
The relief rally on world stock markets following news that pro-bailout parties in Greece had secured a narrow victory in the weekend’s election re-run has quickly run out of steam … as attention turned to the financial problems of the other weaker members of the eurozone before the G20 meeting in Mexico.
Meanwhile, the party of recently elected Socialist president François Hollande won a resounding majority in the French legislature. France’s left now controls both chambers of the legislature. After Sunday’s vote “the Socialists are predicted to take between 308 and 320 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, well over the required 289 for an outright majority.”
The left’s massive victory was not the only historic achievement. For the first time since 1986, the far-right Front National will have two seats in the assembly. One of them was won by Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, the 22-year-old granddaughter of party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, making her the youngest person ever elected to the assembly.
In Egypt, the weekend’s elections are far from resolved. Reuters reports that Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy is leading the count to become the first president to have ever been elected in a free ballot. However, Egypt’s military rulers are not giving power up just yet. From Reuters:
In the latest twist on Egypt’s tortuous path from revolution to democracy, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) issued a decree as two days of voting ended on Sunday which set strict limits on the powers of head of state. On the eve of the election, it had already dissolved the Islamist-led parliament. Liberal and Islamist opponents denounced a “military coup.”