French, Greek leaders lose elections

A swing to populist parties by voters opposed to budget-cutting policies have swept out French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Greece's ruling parties.

President Sarkozy has conceded defeat, becoming the 11th eurozone leader to lose power in reaction to moves to resolve the sovereign-debt crisis.

French Socialist candidate François Hollande won the presidential runoff with an 52-53.3% of the vote.

With 80% of the votes counted, Mr Sarkozy is trailing his opponent with 48.4% to 51.6%, closer than expected but nevertheless fulfilling the predictions of opinion polls conducted before the ballot.

Mr Sakozy's loss is blamed on his polarising personality as well as the poor state of the French economy.

Under his watch, unemployment rose to a 13-year high of nearly 10% while public debt increased to nearly 90% of GDP, from 64% when Mr. Sarkozy took office in 2007.

Mr Hollande’s alternative policies include higher personal taxes on the rich and seeking financial outside help from the European Central Bank – something Germany is likely to resist.

Meanwhile, in Greece, elections there to replace an interim coalition government saw a big swing against the two parties who had agreed to a power-sharing agreement to seal a bailout from the EU.

The socialist Pasok and the conservative New Democracy parties collectively won just 35% of the vote, which is not enough support to form a working majority in Greece's 300-member parliament, even after taking into account a 50-seat bonus awarded to the party with the most votes.

Instead, voters favoured smaller parties of the left and right. The Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, more than tripled its support to 15.5-18.5%, making it the second-largest party after New Democracy.

A right-wing anti-immigrant party, Golden Dawn, with an estimated 6-8% of the vote, will enter parliament for the first time.

With as many as 10 parties poised to clear the 3% threshold needed to enter parliament, Greeks are likely to elect the most fragmented parliament since the restoration of democracy and fall of Greece's military junta in 1974.

The first task of a new government will be to detail some €11.5 billion worth of further cutbacks to deal with expected budget gaps in 2013 and 2014.