FRENCH MUSLIMS: OVERWHELMINGLY FOR SEGOLENE AND AGAINST SARKOZY

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD/AP:

... Muslims from troubled neighbourhoods voted for the first time on Sunday, saying they were motivated by one desire: to keep the law-and-order, tough-on-immigrants Nicolas Sarkozy from power.

The Socialist Segolene Royal won more than 40 per cent of the vote in Paris suburbs such as Clichy-sous-Bois, where riots had broken out in 2005.

[THAT'S NEARLY TWICE THE AMOUNT SHE GOT NATIONALLY!]

Voter registration was up throughout France, for a total of 44.5 million, but few areas experienced as dramatic a rise as the poor suburbs.

In Seine-Saint-Denis, the rough region that includes Clichy-sous-Bois, voter registration was up by 8.5 per cent compared with an average nationwide increase of 4.2 per cent, the Interior Ministry said. ...

Mr Sarkozy is deeply unpopular in housing estates where the residents are mostly second- and third-generation immigrants, many of them Muslims from former colonies in North Africa. "If Sarkozy wins there will certainly be riots here in Clichy and all over France," said Moroccan-born Mohammed Saidi, 43, a first-time voter in Clichy-sous-Bois.

One activist, a Togo-born rapper who goes by the name of Rost, said a few words would suffice to mend Mr Sarkozy's relations with disaffected youths.

Mr Sarkozy must "show he respects us", Rost said. "All he has to do is go on television and say, 'I'm sorry'."

NO, THE ISLAMO-THUGS SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO FRANCE. INSTEAD, THEY WILL PROBABLY WAGE ANOTHER INTIFADA - THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE THREATENING.

BOTTOM-LINE: THE LEFT NEEDS THE MUSLIM VOTE TO WIN, AND THEY WILL GET IT, EASILY: IT'S NO STRETCH FOR THEM: THE LEFT AND THE MUSLIMS ARE NATURAL ALLIES - THEY BOTH HATE THE WEST AND TRADITIONAL JUDEO-CHRISTIAN VALUES.

ON ONE LEVEL THIS CONTEST IS BETWEEN THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THE PROTESTANT WORK ETHIC (AND THE EVENTUAL ANGLO-AMERICANIZATION OF FRANCE), AND THOSE WHO STILL BELIEVE IN A LEFTIST WELFARE ETHIC (AND THE EVENTUAL ISLAMICIZATION OF FRANCE).

THE FORK IN THE ROAD LIES A MERE TWO WEEKS AHEAD OF US.