Four elections this weekend have the potential to reshape theEuropean political map and show how the response to the financialcrisis remains hostage to the whims of voters on both sides of theregion's economic divide.

Recession-weary Greeks will pick a new government and polls showthe French will probably install a Socialist president for thefirst time since 1981. Local elections will test Italy's politicalpulse, and voters in a northern German state may deal a symbolicblow to Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition.

The May 6 elections capture the popular agitation in debtor anddonor countries alike, after emergency loan packages worth 386billion euros ($507 billion) and a focus on deficit reductionfailed to halt the debt crisis. Instead, Europe has been sunderedin two economically, with Greece's unemployment rate of 21.7percent contrasting with Germany's 6.8 percent.