When a democracy is struggling economically, citizens will express their discontent via the ballot box. Recent regional elections do not bode well for anyone currently ruling Europe’s biggest countries. It doesn’t matter if they are on the right, as in France and Italy, or on the left, as in Spain. It doesn’t even matter if the economy is going strong, as is the case with Germany. There is a general sense of malaise, and those in power are expected to pay, as in Ireland on February 25 and Finland on April 17. Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates also lost elections on June 5, and they were legislative elections. In all Western European countries where in 2011 there were elections, the ruling government parties lost.