How Powerful Is France’s President?

France’s outgoing President Sarkozy and his wife leave the Elysee Palace after the handover ceremony with President Hollande, May 15, 2012. French presidents have more power than the leaders of most other advanced democracies, including Germany, the United Kingdom, and, arguably, the United States.

Socialist primary winner in France had backing of prominent anti-Semites

A left-wing politician in France who handily defeated Prime Minister Manuel Valls in the Socialist presidential primaries was endorsed by the founders of the country’s Anti-Zionist Party. Benoit Hamon, who supports dramatically expanding welfare payments and has called for his party to support Palestinian causes to increase its appeal to Muslim voters, beat his hard-line challenger Sunday with 58 percent of the vote in the second and final round of the balloting.