Monaco, the glamorous principality of just 35,000 people nudged along the French Riviera and the world’s second smallest state by area (only the Vatican, which will also soon elect a new head of state, is smaller) held elections Sunday for its 24-member Conseil National (National Council).

Even in a prosperous place like Monaco, with a GDP per capita of over $132,o00, Europe these days is not the friendliest electoral turf for incumbents, delivering a lopsided victory to the more conservative Horzion Monaco, restoring the once-dominant party to power after a decade in opposition.

Economic opportunity played some role in the victory — in a country where the unemployment rate is 0% and nearly two-thirds of Monaco’s workers are imported from nearby France, the opposition leader decried that 15 individuals were unemployed (compared to the 26% of Spaniards currently out of work). Continue reading Incumbents thrown out even in tiny, wealthy Monaco →