Armenia, Serbia, Greece, France

[nwhyte]

Four countries were holding national elections today (sorry, I have no views on Schleswig-Holstein or the Italian local councils).

In Armenia, President Sargsyan's party has got 44% of the votes, up 33% from the 2007 election, and will presumably stay in power with their coalition partners who got 29%, though I suppose they could take their pick

Comments

[sammymorse]

It's even better if you live in a time zone an hour or two further west...

[chess]

I am so glad that Hollande got in - he might be unexciting, but a major European country like France getting the Socialists in power might just help push the neighbourhood away, at least slightly, from the 'cut public spending in a recession' fad that's going around...

[inuitmonster]

Just on the French elections - last time round I think that Sarkozy's lot did better in the parliamentary elections than in the presidential - it seemed like the other lot were demoralised after losing the presidential election and stayed at home to at least some extent. Hollande might gain from that - if the Sarkozy right stay at home in the first round then Socialist candidates could be facing National Fronters in a lot of second round votes, which should benefit the Socialists.

[nwhyte]

Yes, it's true that incumbency and enthusiasm have tended to deliver a substantial parliamentary bonus for the president's party - this was after all why Chirac changed the system in 2002 to make the legislative elections coincide with the Presidential vote. But I don't think it is inevitable that this will happen every time, and this is the closest of the three presidential elections we've had since then (and the first time the apparent advantage has been with the left rather than the right).