French elections in two days - significance

Sarkozy of the far right (who oddly has put down fellow right extremist La Pen) and Royal (socialist) are getting the most pub. Again La Pen, also of the far right national front is lurking as well as Bayrou who is middle. La Pen was seen as very dangerous (especially to young French folks I talked to) in 2002 and many are afraid he may steal the election this time with his very strong anti immagration views. Jose Vove is the anti globilization party and it will be interesting to see what happens with that (not much, but still).

Despite the fact I have a French gf, I do not know to much about the elections. She is not really into politics to much, but she wants to go with Royal. But what do people think?

Obviously there are a few canidates getting all the pub and people eat it all up. The best canidate is probably lost in the mix.For the most part it seems familiar to any other nation. Likely, these four major canidates, along with many others, are probably just figureheads who serve the corporations who fund them and the lobbyists.

I wonder if there is a ron paul type canidate in these elections. someone outside the mix with ideas that differ from the majority of politicians.

 

Wow to call Sarkozy the far right is pretty asinine, he's the center-right in French politics and to many here in the states he'd probably be considered on the left on alot of things

 

talk about the elections and lets not concentrate on a few dubious (at best) mistakes I made. he is still right.

He is "accused, by the Left, of being a populist who favors far right ideas." not just me saying that, that is from wikipedia. Read on over there to get a basic background. French citizens that I have talked to have said that he is far right proving I am not the only one who gives him that "assinine " label. I don't care what he would be in America. We are talking French elections. A country that is pretty liberal, so in France, his ideas are pretty right in comparisson, especially when other rightists (Chirac, de Villipen) attack him for being to extreme.

So onto French election discussions...

 

Well the real contest in the end is obviously going to be between Royal and Sarkozy, but from I've read there's alot of angry French people that are willing to vote for the extremes on both the left and right(if anyone remembers the last presidential election, the far right populist Le Pen is actually the one who made it to the 2nd round of elections to run against Chirac). I take alot of interest in European elections and have followed this alot and I gotta say between the big 2 I'd probably go with Sarkozy, Royal has some good ideas, but alot of her campaign points I read and think "it sounds good, but c'mon, how are you going to pull that off" and honestly for France's pretty stagnant economy I think Sarkozy would be better. Of course like in most countries there are several minor parties with pretty good platforms running people but can never expect them to get more then 2% of the vote in the 1st round of election.

 

I hope Sarkozy does not win. From what I heard, he seems to favor Bush and is a fan of his policies. Maybe it would be good for French/American relations but we don't need the French version of Bush.

One of my friends in France said that there has been a huge strive, media wise, for two major parties in regards to politics, like the American system. that journalists want to abolish the many choices of parties they have overhere, to achieve the american bi partisanapproach.

 

Does it really matter who wins? It's no different from the way it is in the US. If Hillary wins in '08, will anything change? Of course not.

 

I don't think he is far right by any stretch. Of course his opponents call him that, nobody accused their opponents of being moderate. What i think really sets him apart is he is the one more likely to be a reformer - Royal can be summarised as status quo and lots of it.

I don't know if Sarkozy will actually accomplish much, but Royal is only going to do more damage to a country badly in need of reform.

 

I know PR but I am still interested in the minor candidates. for Instance, I think Ron Paul for 08 is one of the best candidates the US has seen in quite some time, at least in my short life time. And a few of the minor French candidates from France intrigued me, like Bove. The only thing that keeps me interested these days as far as elections are the ones who fly under the radar.

I have strong ties to France and hope it does not head down the same slippery slope as America. but maybe its the western world that is heading down the gutter. I mean, look at Silvio Berlusconi of Italy who stole the white votes and called them his own. In other words, people stuffed blank ballets in the box in protest (to show they were for no party or whatever) and he actually claimed them as his own. And he also officially declared control of most TV channels, owning the three major ones. In most countries it is unofficial (and known by some) but in Italy he declared it and people didn't react.

 

Yeah I would consider Ron Paul. Sorry haven't followed French politics so can't offer much to the discussion.

 

That's why I'd be suprised if a socialist wins anything in this day and age. Sweden is even moving towards the right economiclly.

 

France has lost most of its influence so I don't think it will really matter.

 

It isn't so much a fear of La Pen winning as getting onto the second ballot, and therefore everyone reasonable essentially being forced to vote for one candidate (lesser of two evils sort of deal).

Which is exactly what happened last election. And is entirely possible of happening again, considering the weak state of the Parti Socialiste. Personally, though, I think the Gaullists are going to take it (I suppose they call themselves the Union right now).

*For anybody who isn't aware, there are two votes for the French Presidency. First vote has every candidate, second one is a runoff ballot where the two who got the most amount of votes on the first ballot go head to head.

 

Anyone else find some funny irony that the last name for the socialist is "royal"

 

Some good info on France's current situation. They have a video clip.

PBS Frontline

French Healthcare