Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

The first round of the presidential election in France
is over; the top two candidates, conservative Nicolas
Sarkozy and socialist Segolene Royal, will meet in a
run-off on May 6. A Royal win would be bad for the
pharma industry as it would likely lead to even more
onerous government intervention on drug prices than
is the case today. France has 60 million people, roughly
the same as California and Texas combined, and is the
second largest drug market in Europe.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070422/ts_nm/france_election_dc_30

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Sarkozy, Royal Lead French Election

By Crispian Balmer
42 minutes ago

Conservative leader Nicolas Sarkozy finished first in the opening round of France's presidential election on Sunday and will meet Socialist rival Segolene Royal in a run-off vote, initial returns showed.

With 40 percent of the vote counted, Sarkozy had 30.5 percent of the vote, Royal was in second place on 24.3 percent and centrist Francois Bayrou in third place on 18.2 percent. Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who stunned France by coming second in the 2002 election, looked set to finish a distant fourth with around 11.5 percent. The initial returns were in line with four television polls.

As expected, no one won an absolute majority, so the top two candidates will go forward to a second-round ballot on May 6.

"I want to unite France behind a new French dream ... where no one is left behind," a relaxed, smiling Sarkozy told hundreds of cheering supporters gathered in a Paris hall.

On the other side of the Seine river, jubilant Socialist fans at their party headquarters waved red roses at news their champion had made it through to the run-off.

Initial estimates pointed to a huge turnout of up to 85 percent, which if confirmed would be a record for a first-round vote in more than 40 years and stand in a sharp contrast to the 2002 ballot when the turnout was just 73 percent.

The low abstention rate attests to the huge interest in the election, which will usher in a new generation of political leaders and bring the curtain down on 12 years of rule by President Jacques Chirac, 74, who is retiring.

TWO VISIONS

Sarkozy, a hard-line former interior minister, has topped most opinion polls since the start of the year, and Sunday's result showed he had weathered systematic attacks by his rivals, who portrayed him as a dangerous, authoritarian leader.

Royal, seeking to become France's first woman president, mixes left-wing economics with conservative social values and has presented herself as a healing force for a divided nation.

Aides had hoped Royal could win on Sunday, but the fact she seems to have made it through to the run-off was greeted with relief by Socialists, who are still traumatized by the 2002 election when Le Pen knocked their candidate out of the race.

Leading the field in the first round does not guarantee ultimate success. Twice in the last five elections, in 1974 and 1995, the first-round winner lost the run-off. Bayrou could prove the kingmaker this time around.

Whoever replaces Chirac will inherit a fractured, fragile country that has the highest unemployment rate of any major industrial power, poor, multi-ethnic suburbs simmering with discontent and a dominant state sector resistant to reform.

Sarkozy wants the French to work harder and pay less tax, and is promising a deluge of reforms in his first 100 days to curb some union powers, slim down the government and toughen sentencing for repeat offenders.

One of his most controversial ideas is to create a ministry of immigration and identity -- something critics see as a measure aimed at wooing far-right voters who have previously lapped up Le Pen's anti-foreigner rhetoric.

From Monday, Sarkozy will probably have to soften his image to attract centrist voters whose support he will need to win.

Royal will also have to lean back to the center after she shifted left during the long election campaign to shore up her own first-round vote and guarantee a berth in the run-off.

Candidates of smaller parties suffered badly on Sunday, according to the exit polls. In 2002, the Socialist party's leftist and ecological rivals won more than 28 percent of the vote. This time they were seen getting around 10 percent.

It was a particularly bad day for anti-globalization activist Jove Bove, who in 1999 helped destroy a McDonald's outlet. He polled around 1.5 percent. [Good to see that this head case was not taken seriously.]
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