The Sarko tsunami

They were clearing out the champagne bottles when I walked past the headquarters of the UMP, Nicolas Sarkozy's party, on the rue de la Boétie early this morning.  The overnight party had been modest because Sarko's invincible machine does not want to gloat over its clean sweep in yesterday's first round of the parliamentary election.

On the facade outside, the posters with Sarkozy's election slogan still talk of the future: "Tomorrow everything becomes possible". Tomorrow arrives next Monday when voters have confirmed the rightward landslide that began rolling with yesterday's vote. From that moment, Sarkozy must begin delivering the renaissance that he promised France over the past two years.

Sarkozy is being given the freest hand to govern enjoyed by any president at least since François Mitterrand, the Socialist won the Elysee Palace in 1981.

[ELECTION FALL-OUT -- ROYAL-HOLLANDE FEUD HERE]

[Prime Minister François Fillon votes for himself in the Sarthe. He won]

Sunday's vote, tinted by record abstention, could give his side up to 450 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly. Overwhelmed by this "blue tsunami", the Socialist party has been left begging voters to turn out next Sunday to deprive Sarko of Napoleonic supremacy.

[forecasts of outcome. PCF=Communist party, PS = Socialists, Verts = Greens, MoDem= Bayrou's group]

"France needs a counter-balance. The government must not be a steamroller," said Ségolène Royal, the defeated Socialist presidential candidate. Royal's attempt to seize the wheel of the foundering Socialist ship is providing a subplot to the parliamentary vote. This morning she contradicted François Hollande, the party leader and her partner, by offering a lifeline to François Bayrou, the ship-wrecked centrist. Both Hollande and Royal are now facing a mutiny from younger colleagues for holding party hostage to their conjugal feud.

The debacle suffered by Bayrou, 55, is a lesson in the cruelty of politics. Three months ago, he was a global name in the running to beat Sarkozy for the Presidency. Now, deserted by almost all his old Union for French Democracy, he may win the only seat for his new Democratic Movement party.  Bayrou was a sorry figure on television last night lamenting this "terribly one-sided parliament". He prophesied: "One day, France will regret this lack of balance. It is not healthy."

Bayrou's fate is part of a remake of France's political landscape. All the smaller parties that have been a force in recent decades have been squeezed off the stage or reduced to the far fringe. The Communist Party, which was France's biggest in the 1950s and fielded ministers in the 1990s, is near the exit with only four percent of the vote. The National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far right nationalist who came second in the 2002 presidential race, scored under five percent after strong double figures for the past two decades. 

No-one is arguing with the conclusion of  the pro-Sarkozy Figaro today. "France has given Sarkozy's UMP the clear mandate to do what it promised... the French want change and they want it fast." 

Opposition to Sarko may be reduced to a shadow in parliament but it remains remains strong in the country at large. Many on the left are hoping for revenge when the Sarko revolution starts hitting turbulence in the autumn.  The scene will be that traditional venue of French political contest -- the street.   

[The Risks of Absolute Power, as seen by the main leftwing news weekly]

Comments

[Peter Athey]

Let us hope that the Sarkozy regime doesn't go down any road traced by Mitterand.

The first couple of years of Mitterand's first term were an unmittigated catastrophe - and his government had to backtrack from their nationalisation of the country when they discovered that a state run economy just didn't work. This led several ministers (most of them communist) to leave the government, and, thankfully, it has been downhill since then for the PCF.

Sarkozy will stick to his programme of freeing the economic forces that have been bottled up for too long.

[Mauvezin]

"....Sarkozy will stick to his programme of freeing the economic forces...."
****************
Thank you be easy
We're looking after him.

[BT]

Does your man have anything else to do instead of counting empty bottles? Some European countries should take example on France before they completely sink – not in the champagne!

[Terry]

Do the French center right or right ever hit the street to protest? Or is this tantrum tactic generally reserved to the French left.

[rocket]

Nice post Charles

May I add

"This morning she contradicted François Hollande, the party leader and her partner..."

Partner Schmartner!

Let's hope that the old French reflex to take to the streets will at least give Sarkozy time to try out his new policies. I'm not sure that we are witnessing un "bouleversement de société" but at the moment we are surely witnessing those who are not afraid anymore to say "merde" to the old "pensée français unique" which was basically shut your mouth and go with the flow and criticize money

As per the French communist party which is quickly heading into the Trashheap of history (it's about time) I was surprised to hear a French politican say last night that in any case the French communist party had never been democratic. Too bad that it took long time for a grand majorité of the population to realize this.

As per Segolene leading the Socialist Party next year or earlier. It seems to me that their ideas are so empty, they have no one else to turn to. What does she have to offer other than nice teeth.

For me democracy is like tennis. believe in yourself, fight, work hard and you can change things. Not this "peur bleue de l'échec" comme les jouers de tennis français devant la publique à Roland Garros.

Mon dieu que vont t-ils penser de moi si je perdre!

[John Salter]

Rather than counting champagne empties, Mr Bremner should be checking out the lies disseminated over the broadcast media here in France. For example, the other day on France Inter, which pretends to be a sort of French Radio 4, I heard former PM Raffarin claim that on average, Danes work 30% more than the French (in fact the figure is less than 0.5% more). Last night on TV, M. Borloo, the current Minister of Economy, Finance and Employmet said that German productivity is 10% higher than the French whereas in fact it's the other way round.

[marc de berner]

This is the final nail in the coffin of the Partie Socalist and Mitterands failed legacy.. I am looking forward to Nicolas taking on the Unions and throwing them in the dustbin... The war between capitalism and socalism in the rest of the world has been over for 17 years. As usual we are behind the rest of the world
Bravo Nicolas lets have lots more of the good capitalist policies. That is what our nation wants as the election result shows...

[John Gregory Flinn]

It reminds me of the shambles that was the British Labour party after Mrs T. won in 1979. Not exactly the same because it's even more evident today that socialism has run its course in the West.
I note the right wing did well on Sunday in Belgium as well, where the prospect of a 'Wallonie libre' seems closer!
Someone said (I think it was Enoch Powell) all politicians end in failure - or something to that effect; and the M.Hollande/Me.Royal duo certainly seems to personnify that.

[Duncan]

For a Scots-Canadian who has visited France more than any other European country, and has watched with dismay the inceasing disfunction of that great nation, the results of these elections, both la presidentielle and les legislatives are very welcome. Someone has to have real, demonstrated power to take on the strikers in France, surely a cancer in that land. And it's not just "scum"...the paralysis of the entire nation, by too many levels of the workforce,occurs too frequently to be shrugged off, even with a Gallic shrug. So reform is an urgent necessity, and Joan of Royal, the "saint" who blackmails her own spouse, is unworthy of the trust of France. We've heard not a whole lot about policy for the Socialists in the Assemblee. A lot of basking in the adoration of the faithful, and very little of substance.
And at bottom she's dumb to again flirt politically with Beyrou. It didn't work during the presidential round, and I believe it won't work this week either. One can envisage her running again for the presidency in five years. Maybe she'll have learned enough to take on the UMP...and maybe she won't be entrusted with the chance by her own party. The new President has gagne ses epaulettes; not incidentally he's pretty well wiped out the odious FN. Let's watch him and his team go, and wish him well.

[Valentin]

As the joke goes, two French socialists were debating what will the parliamentary elections look like : une défaite, un debacle, ou un désastre ! (moi j'dirais, une catastrophe :))

"Do the French center right or right ever hit the street to protest? Or is this tantrum tactic generally reserved to the French left."

They did. Once. 40 years ago :

"Le 30 mai [1968] est organisée une marche de soutien au gouvernement [de Charles de Gaulle], menée par André Malraux et Michel Debré. Elle réunit trois cent mille manifestants selon la préfecture de police et un million selon les gaullistes."

[Stephen Bull]

The lovely French Left!
First they tried "anyone but Sarkozy" then they tried "too much power is dangerous"; now they want PR. Anything to frustrate the will of the people.

[Ade]

Can somebody finally explain to me exactly what are these deep state, tax, economic and social reforms that Sarkozy's promised? I mean I must have missed something in the magazines and the news programs I've watched.

From what I can figure the only state reform thing Sako's said is for every 2 fonctionaires that retire, they'll be replaced with about 1. Wow. Now this is probably unworkable and is not a reform. Closing and selling off the completely useless 19th century Prefectures would, for example, be a deep reform. And got to say that the site of state-dominated union bosses walking out of the Elysee in the last few weeks saying that actually Sarkozy is a great guy is not very promising.

As for tax, Sarkozy promises 20 percent mortgage rebate (capped) up to 5 years and everyone wets themselves. But there was mortgage rebate in France upto just a few years ago and it was more generous then than what's been promised now. Won't make any difference to me - and even if i was eligible it would've been completely wiped out by my rise in professional taxes this year. As for inheritance tax, nobody around me is planning on snuffing it at the moment.

Only social reform I can see is charging us more (again) to see a doctor. The work reform seems to be a great plan to legalise the black market - work more than 35 hrs with no tax and contributions. What business really needed was their Soc-Sec contibutions bringing down which of course won't happen.

Why not , you scream dementedly as you attack each other with boules? Because it can't. Real taxes can't go down without a massive reduction in state spending. France has a trillion euro (minimum) debt...

I really do hope that Sarkozy is this great, shining knight riding in to save France. It would make my life easier. But Nicholas Sarkozy's a politician. Not a magician.

[Ade]

Hey! You know the protection slot u have to fill in with weird letters and numbers before you can submit your post on this blog? Well it just asked me to spell 'wank'. Actually it was 'wcank' but that's close enough.

[Sandrine]

"... then they tried "too much power is dangerous";"

Stephen, you're definitely right. I think you're not going far enough : I agree with you when you say that too much power for one man is absolutely NOT dangerous in a democracy, so I propose that we give all the seats in the Assemblée Nationale to the UMP. And let's do the same in the Sénat ! Our great Leader will be so happy. There will be no more opposition (what for ? Who needs it ? It's useless as it always always complains and disagrees with our great Leader and his brilliant wonderful ideas !!), it will be so great !! I can't wait for next week...

(wow, no more vodka for me...)

[elizabeth schumann]

Good one, Ade, thanks for the comic relief!!!

[Kick]

Are we not missing something when we criticise the French way of hitting the streets in protest? Think of the popular press in Britain. For all its faults, the naming and shaming by the tabloids keeps the politicians on their toes. As I see it, these are imperfect checks on the imperfect democratic systems of both countries.

[christopher muir]

Abracadabra! It seems that there are many who believe that a wave of the Sarkozy wand will fix everything that's presently wrong in France. Hopefully, the French population will be happier, their pockets will be filled with gold, these new riches having been won from fresh opportunities to work harder and export more. ADE writes that Sarko is no magician and I agree with him. The future could reveal a measured but painful transition which will be disliked by many. If there is no fruitful political party in opposition to counsel organisers of the predicted street protests, the present optimism may prove to have been exaggerated.

[Costanzia]

I wish I was at the UMP headquarters and drank champagne at Sarko's overnight party (SOUPIR).

[Alain]

I have to agree with ADE about the purported revolution Sarkozy is supposed to bring into the French way of running the country, particularly when it comes to economics.
The 20 percent mortgage rebate in particular is nothing new, I benefited from it 15 years ago when I bought my appartment.
As for the 35 hours per week that seem so devilish to many Anglo/American (do they really personnally suffer from it?) Sarkozy certainly won't and can't abrogate the measure and make everyone happily return to the good old 48 hours/week. There will only be a loosening of the law. But now, it already appears the reform(ette) won't be as easy to implement as Sarko said it will be...

D'une façon plus générale, qu'est-ce que ça peut leur f...tre aux anglo/américains la façon dont les Français décident de mener leur pays? Particulièrement au point de vue économique. A les lire on croirait qu'ils parlent de la Corée du Nord ou de l'Albanie des années 80. Does it feel so good to be as condescending as to believe oneself entitled to teach lessons?

[Sandrine]

""FRANCE has given Sarkozy's UMP the CLEAR mandate to do what it promised... the FRENCH want change and they want it fast."

You're right Charles, it seems that all the FRENCH want the change... but wait a minute, what about the turnout ? Nothing to say at all ? When it's 84% that's a beautiful lesson of democracy, but when it's 39%? What is it exactly ?

[Helen]

The turnout was 61%; 39% is the abstention rate.....

[D.Strohl]

SANDRINE,

"So I propose that we give all the seats in the Assemblée Nationale to the UMP".

The reason invoked by the Socialists to want more "députés" is « democracy and opposition". May be there is as well another reason, of course not mentioned (ce n'est pas convenable lorsqu'on est de gauche), i.e. that political parties get a 48,000 € subvention from the state for every elected député. Of course, it makes a difference if a party has 150 "députés" elected (and subventioned) instead of 400 ... And, as it was to be expected, UMP did not make a big propaganda on this « detail » either ...

What gets me really on the nerves with politicians is their hypocrisy and the fact that many of them hold us (« les Français moyens », you and me included) « pour des demeurés » i.e. mentally retarded. May be one of the reasons of the rout taken by the Socialists is that this was most apparent in their group, conspicuously spearheaded by Mme Royal, who is not a paragon of intellectual modesty, to say the least. And her most heralded « démocratie participative» was at best a poor camouflage, or un « rideau de fumée » which is gone with the wind ...

Sandrine, please, nothing personal in the commentary above. I respect your opinion and I like your posts.

PS : I owe the figure of 48,000 Euros to Christian Barbier, the young and bright « rédacteur en chef de l'Express », who mentioned it on TV a few days ago. I hope I got the figure right in spite of my rusty ears. If not, please correct me.

[Sandrine]

Helen,
Oups, you're right !

So let me rephrase that. the abstention rate is "the second highest" (sorry I don't know how to say it correctly) of the fifth Republic and still, nobody (even my dear Charles) wanna say something as if everything was perfect in a perfect world.

So I just love how a lot of people like Charles, say that the French, except a few "irréductibles" gauchists, have decided to give Sarko what he desperatly needed : a totally blue Assembly!

"Sandrine, please, nothing personal in the commentary above. I respect your opinion and I like your posts."

I respect your opinion too Daniel, no problem for me. It's just that to me, one party should not have nearly all the seats of the Assembly national. But if people from the right think that it's better this way, so be it. I think someone should say loudly that this is not very sane for a country to have no opposition (en dehors de la rue). If you think that Ségo and the left, and the modem, and the "green" shouldn't say that, then who could say it ? All the press, except l'Huma (which I don't read) seem to think that's a good thing.

Whenever Ségo opens her mouth, whatever she says, it's wrong. Excuse me if I don't feel this way. She's definitely not perfect (who is ?), but please try to recognize that sometimes, she can say smart things (I know that seems totally unbelievable).

[John Gregory Flinn]

ADE makes an interesting post, and has drawn similar comment.

What he identifies may be a good example of the "socialist ratchet".

The left manage to entrench their orthodoxy in the West - not so much in the USA - by making deep legislative reforms which prove well nigh impossible to reverse when, say a right wing government gets elected. ADE quotes the trillion-odd euro debt - voila!

So on this basis M.Sarkozy may only tinker with the socialist measures and loosen them a bit.
Thus the socialist orthodoxy remains more or less intact, and awaits the next time the left may be elected for more of the same.

This was the case in Britain until Mrs T was elected when deep reverses were made to, for example, alter the power balance between Employers and Unions, and facilitate privatisation.
(However I don't believe she managed to permanently disengage the "ratchet").

Whether M.Sarkozy will attempt something similar seems to depend on how much pain can be sustained, inter alia, by losses to the national purse and the French public.
Of course he may make reforms which increase revenue....

[Valentin]

"I think someone should say loudly that this is not very sane for a country to have no opposition"

How arrogant, daring to give one's opinion over who free adult voters should or should not choose.

I don't remember the same kind of opinion given when PS won 20 regions out of 22.

People will vote whoever they think best - and will hopefully finish the job in the next local and regional elections.

[Sandrine]

"How arrogant, daring to give one's opinion over who free adult voters should or should not choose."

Ok Valentin, so what you say is that, the Assemblée nationale is not supposed to represent the country. You mean that if the UMP has 85% of the seats it's because 85% of the French voted for them. OK then, my bad, I'm sorry to think that a national assembly should represent a nation and not one party.

And this has nothing to do with the regions which, even if they're run by some socialists have large groups of opposition inside (si si, vérifiez !)

[Susannah]

Sandrine wrote that: "It's just that to me, one party should not have nearly all the seats of the Assembly national. But if people from the right think that it's better this way, so be it."

It isn't "people from the right," it's a majority of the French electorate. You may counter that turnout was depressed; well, it was, but if a lot of Socialists stayed home and didn't vote, isn't that their own fault? The people who did bother to show up voted for the UMP. Anyway, turnout was certainly high enough for the presidential election, and Sarko won that handily. I don't think there's any reason to suppose that, had there been 85% turnout again, Sarkozy's party would have done dramatically worse than Sarkozy himself a mere month earlier. (Especially given that he's gained popularity since then, not lost it.)

Certainly Sarko will have a lot of power with a UMP-dominated parliament. There's no reason you should like that prospect, seeing as you disagree with him -- but it's a perfectly fair and democratic outcome. It might be bad, but it is not illegitimate.

Regarding Royal's comments: I agree that she is sometimes correct. For instance, I thought she was right to threaten boycotting the Olympics if China doesn't clean up its act, and Sarko wrong to rule it out. But you must recognize that when she talks about the elections, she doesn't speak out of a disinterested concern for democracy; how could she, as an interested party? She wants the PS to win, as much as Sarko wants the UMP to win -- and she also wants to be the one out in front rallying the troops, so it'll improve her position vis-a-vis the other leaders of the Socialist party.

So I don't think Royal's being stupid or anything when she talks about the need to resist Sarkozy, but I do think she has ulterior motives. And before you ask, of course I realise Sarko also has ulterior motives. He likes power as much as the next guy -- it's just that I think he wants to do some pretty good things with the power once he has it, so I'm not frightened by the prospect of him getting it.

[richard jones]

The 'ratchet', be it a statist socio-communist 'ratchet' or a free-market, entreprenurial 'ratchet'.

There seems to be a belief that the statist 'ratchet' is irreversible, which has not been proven in the emergence to some form of market economies in Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech, Slovakia and very aggressively in Poland and so on.

Neither 'ratchet' is irreversible and neither 'ratchet' can exist without some presence of the other in a successful modern, socio-aware industrial or post-industrial state. Think more of a gear box than a 'ratchet' and the adjustment and realignment of the cogs and a more efficient clutch procedure.
Sarkozy will simply have to change gear several times and probably fray the clutch cable doing it but there is no irreversible 'ratchet'.

[Valentin]

"You mean that if the UMP has 85% of the seats it's because 85% of the French voted for them."

OK, so your problem is with the majoritary electoral system, UMP having 46% of votes and 80% of seats.
You think that in these conditions, the resulting assembly does not truly represent the country.

Well, actually it does. The majoritary vote is supposed to focus on the local situation.
The proportional vote follows the national ratio, but this is known to favorize parties rather than people.
The majoritary vote is meant to give a strong legitimity to the person of the candidate at local level. You vote for the person rather than for the party.
It's actually a bit similar with the regional elections, you can ask the same question: is it normal and democratic for the PS to rule 90% of the region and turn them into personal fiefs ?
If the local people of a certain party manage to win by 51 to 49 in all districts, you will have a 100% monocolor assembly, just as is the case with the regions now.
It's the majoritary way, no less legitimate than the proportional.

My question: would you like extremists like LCR and FN having parliamentary groups and arbitrating every law to be passed?

[marine]

Well, Sarko is doing it his way: lots of talks, so many promises that one may think this guy is christmas father (most Brits and Americans on this blog consider his economic promises, these lucky people have missed all his so damn sincere and realistic promises about mentally disabled people, beaten women, dependent people, dying people), so far he talks and talks and talks.

Yeah, he gave some tax reduction to house purchasers, for sure a great step to solve the housing crisis, and there will be no tax on working hours after the legal time of 35 hours, sounds fantastic.I'm sure my grandfather, who did 1936, must wonder what is happening to this country from his grave.

The main problem of France is red-tape. Making rules easier should be the main objective. All French politicians seem to think that governing is writing laws and laws and laws. And Sarko with his fifth law on security is like the most sadest and funniest example of that.

The left lost because of its own fault, they don't want to behave and to be a team? then they pay for it...fair enough.

[marine]

Valentin,
I'm going to check that, but i'm pretty sure the rules for regional elections include some proportional.

I'm quite amazed to see that you perceive the french parliament as a working, efficient and fair organization. I would not mind to see a FN group or a extreme leftist group, perhaps people would understand better how dangerous their ideas can be. And it would force the big parties to talk together and act together. Remember the Dutch? ;-)
But anyway, it won't happen, the French are way too conservative.

[Valentin]

Actually no, the French have a tendency to quarrel between a myriad of small parties if you let them. That's why this type of elections is necessary. Suffices to look at Italy. I know it's an example Sarko often gives, but it's a good one nonetheless.

[John Gregory Flinn]

"The new President has gagne ses epaulettes; not incidentally he's pretty well wiped out the odious FN."

Actually he's taken over many of their policies - odious or not!
The new immigration minister, Brice Hortefeux has set out some tough new quotas for the number of illegal immigrants the new ministry must arrest and expel each month.
He has also announced that his ministry will start actively promoting the already existing French policy of voluntary repatriation.
And I believe 'Le Voix du Nord' reported yesterday that investigations were being made about the trafficking of Documents for (presumeably) 'sans papiers' in the 'Nord' dept.

Jean-Marie Le Pen could not have hoped for such a promising start!

We are going to see if they get carried through.
But if they don't you can bet that the FN will be back because this problem is mainstream now.

[Dominique]

The purpose of a parlement was never to represent people. It's purpose is to make laws and support or get rid of a government.

If representation was it's purpose, we wouldn't need to vote. We'd ask SOFRES to make a panel of 577 "typical" french citizens and send Madame Michu to the assemblée!

[Valentin]

Mark my words : If I ever see a change in Terry's way of thinking (or expression of it, whatever) the size of the one I notice to Dominique, this I promise you, I will have that bottle of champagne all by myself ! :)

(maybe that old legend about French kings is true, and all it takes is a democrat in the White House for the miracle to happen :))

[Sandrine]

"The purpose of a parlement was never to represent people"

Wow, Dominique, I have the feeling that you have completely lost your mind. Or maybe it's a new Dominique we don't know yet...

Alors comme ça l'Assemblée nationale n'est pas élue pour représenter le peuple ???? En fait, vu comme ça, je ne vois même pas l'intérêt pour le peuple de voter, autant faire comme pour le Sénat ! C'est dingue de sortir un truc comme ça !!

Et donc Valentin si j'ai bien compris vous êtes d'accord aussi que l'Assemblée nationale ne représente en rien le peuple ?

Boudiou, on m'aurait menti à l'insu de mon plein gré alors ???

[Valentin]

"on m'aurait menti à l'insu de mon plein gré alors???"

You foreigners interested in the French language, just look at this, Sandrine just pulled out of her hat a very cute Frenchy phrase, perfectly made for your thick, bear-like anglosaxon ears !!! :P "On m'aurait menti à l'insu de mon plein gré !" HAH !

As to the question: no Miss, I've never said Parliament shouldn't represent the people. I did agree with Dominique though, when he pointed out that elections are not opinion polls.

Now:
suppose we have 300 circonscriptions (electoral districts); then suppose that in each and every one of them, the Red beats the Blue candidate by 51% to 49%
(ok, pure fantasy, but for the sake of the proof, let's continue).

It follows that each district sends to Palais Bourbon a Red. This Red will fully and proudly represent his little district, because HE WON the elections there!

Still with me, everyone ? Ok. Now on to the difficult part.
The fiery Reds, one by one, gather to Paris to form the Assembly.
Or what do we see? 300 Reds making up A 100% RED ASSEMBLY! But if we count the votes in the WHOLE COUNTRY and compute the national ratio, we see that Red vs. Blue only makes 51% to 49%.
Question: Is the red assembly representative for the whole people!

You will all have your Bac Magna cum laude if you answer this correctly!
QED.

[Sandrine]

Ok Valentin, I see what you mean. I guess we have to respect the French vote in any case. But still, I don't see why the left can't call the voters to give it some seats. I don't want the national assembly to be completely blue. Sorry for that.

"on m'aurait menti à l'insu de mon plein gré alors???"

Héhé... Please, you should also tell our fellow anglo-saxons here that this sentence was invented by Richard Virenque and that this is not good french !! ;o)

[terry]

Valentin:

I think everyone should share whatever they have equally with others. Private property should be abolished. The chicken is on me at Closerie!

Enjoy the champagne.

[Valentin]

It may not be academical, but it sounds sooo poshly French :)

Granted Left can ask for seats, but spreading fear about lack of democracy is annoying. It's perfectly democratic to win by 80%, if voters decided, the vote was free and by the rules.

OR we can make a new law declaring illegal any majority above 60%. Imagine a football game invalidated because won by 7-0 :)

[Valentin]

LOL your conversion is suspect, to say the least, Mr. I'm afraid you'll have to prove your new self on the subject of Iraq & Co as well :) (I'm pretty sure I got'm this time)