Word: socialist
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Looked at one way, the results of the European parliamentary elections, held across the European Union's 27 member states last week, can be seen as a continent-wide rejection of the center left and an embrace of the center right - with some far-right candidates doing well, too. Socialist and social democratic parties were badly beaten, despite the global economic crisis and misgivings in Europe about unbridled capitalism. "Voters do not want socialism, they want a market system that works," reckoned Corien Wortmann-Kool, who was re-elected for the Dutch center-right CDA party...
...seeking to turn the European campaign into a referendum on Sarkozy's leadership, the Socialists found themselves outflanked by the Europe Ecologie movement, a collection of diverse environmentalist parties. The grouping's seven-month campaign, which fused environmental messages with those of European construction and leadership, apparently appealed to voters: Europe Ecologie won 16.3%, and in so doing, staked a claim to a leadership role on the left in both France and the European Parliament. "Our first big action will be negotiating a [leftist] majority," proclaimed Europe Ecologie official Daniel Cohn-Bendit - the Franco-German ecologist who first gained fame...
...when his father Kim Il Sung was running the country, Kim apparently ordered the abduction of Shin Sang-ok, then perhaps the most famous film producer in the South, and his wife, Choi Eun-hee, a famous actress. Shin was imprisoned for four years, then forced to make a socialist-friendly version of Godzilla. He and his wife eventually escaped during a business trip to Vienna in 1986. Shin died...
...midst of a financial downturn, with big government back in fashion and capitalism badly bruised, the left should have swept the European Parliament elections that took place over four days last week. But instead, voters emphatically punished socialist and social-democrat parties - when they could be bothered to show up to the polls...
...there was little comfort for the left elsewhere in Europe. Although President Nicolas Sarkozy is deeply unpopular in France, his UMP party saw its vote rise to 27.7% from the 16.6% it garnered at the last European elections in 2004, while the Socialist Party slumped from 28.9% in 2004 to 16.5% this time. In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition surged 6.9% to secure 35% of the vote, ahead of the center-left opposition at 26%. Spain's governing Socialists slipped 4% to 38.5%, behind the opposition Popular Party at 42.2%, while Portugal's ruling Socialists suffered...