On May 6th, French citizens took to the polls and ousted their president of five years, Nicolas Sarkozy, replacing him with Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande. The same day in Greece, voters ousted traditional parties for many radical ones.

    In France, Hollande’s election was a lashing out against years of economic slump and uncertainty that Sarkozy ruled over. The European economic policy of austerity – cutting the government’s budget in order to encourage private spending – was Sarkozy’s go-to policy, and voters were clearly tired of it. Hollande’s agenda advocates more government intervention in the economy, but that same agenda contains some unpopular policies. Most controversial is his campaign promise to pull all the French forces in Afghanistan – over 4000 troops – out by this year’s end, contrary to the U.S.’ long-term policy of removing troops by 2014.

    Greece has continually needed international bailout and management to try to stay above water. In the elections, Greek citizens expressed their frustration with their current politicians and voted in radical parties, like the Coalition of the Radical Left, the Independent Greeks, and Golden Dawn. Of these, Golden Dawn has drawn the most headlines; critics describe it as a Neo-Nazi, fascist party, admiring people like Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas and denying some of the horrors of the Holocaust. Despite the radicalism, no one party in Greece earned a majority of the legislative seats, and so the largest party, the centrist New Democracy, will attempt to form a coalition government.