Sarkozy to reshuffle cabinet after poll defeat

FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy prepared yesterday to shake up his government after a humiliating defeat by the left in regional elections pressured him to recast his reform programme.

Sarkozy met with his Prime Minister Francois Fillon to plan the cabinet reshuffle, while tensions surfaced in his party, with former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin calling for a confidence vote on the president’s reforms.

The second-round regional poll on Sunday left Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP in charge of only one of France’s mainland regions in the last ballot-box test of Sarkozy’s popularity before the 2012 presidential vote.