French Elections

[rowan]

The leader of the far-right National Front party, Marine Le Pen, has extended her lead in opinion polls ahead of the first round of the French presidential election on April 23.

According to a BVA-Salesforce poll published Thursday, Le Pen would get 27.5 percent of the vote, up from 25 percent in the last survey on February 4.

Independent candidate Emmanuel Macron would finish second in the first round with 21 percent, down from 22 percent in the previous poll. Conservative candidate François Fillon would come third with 19 percent of the vote.

Le Pen is expected to lose the second round of the vote on May 7 to Macron 61 to 39 percent.

http://www.politico.eu/article/marine-l ... -election/

[rowan]

Is anybody involved in the French elections not embroiled in a scandal??

A close aide to French Front National leader Marine Le Pen has been charged amid an inquiry into the party’s financing.

Frederic Chatillon had already been charged earlier in the week with “misuse of company assets”. He is head a firm contracted by Le Pen’s party.

Days earlier another aide to the far-right leader was charged in a separate investigation over suspicions that party members used European Parliament money to fund party activities in France.

The party denies wrongdoing.

http://www.euronews.com/2017/02/25/fran ... cing-probe

[Adder]

Is anybody involved in the French elections not embroiled in a scandal??

A close aide to French Front National leader Marine Le Pen has been charged amid an inquiry into the party’s financing.

Frederic Chatillon had already been charged earlier in the week with “misuse of company assets”. He is head a firm contracted by Le Pen’s party.

Days earlier another aide to the far-right leader was charged in a separate investigation over suspicions that party members used European Parliament money to fund party activities in France.

The party denies wrongdoing.

http://www.euronews.com/2017/02/25/fran ... cing-probe

Hamon might be clean, but French politicians deserve a good kicking.
The Fascists are of course playing the victim card. Always blaming others for their misfortunes.

[BBD]

Fascists are of course playing the victim card. Always blaming others for their misfortunes.[/quote]



Eddie Jones is a fascist!

[Adder]

This is not France/RUGBY

[BBD]

Its Alternative Rugby

[rowan]

La fin des Verts . . .

For the first time since the 1960s there will be no Green candidate in May’s French presidential election, the Green leader Yannick Jadot officially joining forces with the Socialist’s Benoit Hamon, and supporting his bid.

http://www.euronews.com/2017/02/27/fren ... l-campaign

[rowan]

Galloway gives a good summary here:

[rowan]

Macron well on top right now, in spite of the scandals . . .

Emmanuel Macron's position as favorite in France's presidential election was boosted on Thursday by an opinion poll which showed him beating far-right leader Marine Le Pen in both the first and final rounds of the two-stage contest.

The Harris Interactive poll showed Macron winning the first round with 26 percent of votes, with Le Pen taking second place on 25 percent, sending the two to a May 7 run-off where he would trounce her with a score of 65 percent.

It was the second poll in the space of a week that put the 39-year-old ahead of Le Pen in the opening round, a signal that the centrist former economy minister may be consolidating his position 45 days from leg-one of the contest.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-franc ... SKBN16G095

[Adder]

Le Monde has just published and Article stating that up to 32% of the electorate surveyed has so far claimed that they won’t be voting. Of course, a large number of these will be hiding what they are voting, and some will change their mind.
Nevertheless, when MLP’s father got through to the second round 29% of the electorate didn’t turn up.

Macron’s ultra-mediatisation is boiling my p*ss. Really starting to wonder if MLP is just used as a scarecrow to get him Elected(so that people don’t vote for smaller parties : Real Politic). He is presented as the only one who can get all the French people together. His program is very close to that of Hollande in 2012 and I’m sure he would respect it as much as his predecessor should he be elected.

[rowan]

Really starting to wonder if MLP is just used as a scarecrow to get him Elected(so that people don’t vote for smaller parties : Real Politic).

Well, that's what I thought about Trump (v Clinton). The rest is history . . .

[Adder]

The only pleasure this election was seeing sarkozy, jupe and Fillon crash

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[rowan]

Indeed - though Fillon is still battling away, I believe...

[rowan]

Les nouvelles . . .

Two left-wingers in France's presidential race refused to call a truce on Thursday in a battle that looks sure to knock them both out of a contest that polls say will be won by centrist Emmanuel Macron in a runoff versus far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Socialist Benoit Hamon vowed to fight to the end despite being deserted by key members of his party while hard left rival Jean-Luc Melenchon, buoyed by a poll surge, ruled out a merger with him that could put the Left back in play.

With the left-wingers locked in a seemingly suicidal combat, Macron relished announcements by several right- and left-wing politicians, including Socialist defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Socialist ex-prime minister Manuel Valls, that they would vote for him instead of Hamon.

"I have a problem in politics at the moment: there are lots of people backing me," joked Macron, a 39-year-old who promises to transcend the Left-versus-Right divide of politics in France, where the jobless rate in a sluggish economy is near 10 percent.

"That said, there's some consolation in the fact that for others the problem is that people are leaving them," he said at a meeting between candidates and farming sector representatives.

[Digby]

So it'll be Macron Vs Le Pen, who knew?

I'm slightly amused/bemused that if the lefty voters had all gone for Melenchon they'd likely have a candidate into the final vote, again it seems many want to remain protest voters.

[Adder]

So it'll be Macron Vs Le Pen, who knew?

I'm slightly amused/bemused that if the lefty voters had all gone for Melenchon they'd likely have a candidate into the final vote, again it seems many want to remain protest voters.

Stalinist vs Trostkyst vs others. Poor Hamon who is a fairly left winged socialist but who inherited fron the Hollande horror show and had to tackle both extreems of his party moving to other parties.

We now have an Enarquo(from the Ecole Nationale d'Administration)-Banker vs a Bourgeois-fascistic-crook.

Nothing new then...

On the good side Fillon will hopefully be properly prosecuted. 20%voted for him which is still a shocker.

The socialist part will either implode or reform.



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[kk67]

Macron’s ultra-mediatisation is boiling my p*ss. Really starting to wonder if MLP is just used as a scarecrow to get him Elected(so that people don’t vote for smaller parties : Real Politic). He is presented as the only one who can get all the French people together. His program is very close to that of Hollande in 2012 and I’m sure he would respect it as much as his predecessor should he be elected.

I feel your pain, Bro'. Not least because this is now the politics of everywhere.
When 5 billionaires control 90% of media content, politics becomes just a matter of who shouts the loudest.

[Adder]

So Macron wins with 65% of the vote. At 39, he is the youngest leader of France since Napoleon.

Interesting to note that even with 25% of the electorate not voting and 12% (roughly 9% of the electorate) those that did puting a blank vote, Lepen was far from winning (22%of total electorate)

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[Digby]

I don't know if either were strong candidates, but whilst the winner looked obvious it's heartening the win was so decisive

[zer0]

So Macron wins with 65% of the vote. At 39, he is the youngest leader of France since Napoleon.

G'wan. There must've been some 8 year old crowned king in the 1300's or something, right?

EDIT: Don't have to go back that far. Lous XV was crowned in 1715 at 5 years old.

[Adder]

So Macron wins with 65% of the vote. At 39, he is the youngest leader of France since Napoleon.

G'wan. There must've been some 8 year old crowned king in the 1300's or something, right?

EDIT: Don't have to go back that far. Lous XV was crowned in 1715 at 5 years old.

Since 1799, Napoleon was 29 . But you are right Louix XIV and Louis XV were both kids when crowned.

[bruce]

His victory speech had all the gusto of a dead fish.

[Sandydragon]

I don't know if either were strong candidates, but whilst the winner looked obvious it's heartening the win was so decisive

Like many people (I suspect) I don't know whether Macron will be good or bad as French President. Certainly as an outsider, he has a lot of ground to make up in terms of influence.

But pretty much anything has to be better than Le Pen. I noticed that her vote share has increased, but perhaps that is a result of a poor turnout and her core supporters being more motivated?

[kk67]

I don't know much about how French politics works but surely without his own party his mandate is somewhat flimsy..?.
I'm just basing this on the Corbyn situation where the grass roots have voted for him twice but his parliamentary party doesn't like him.

[belgarion]

I don't know much about how French politics works but surely without his own party his mandate is somewhat flimsy..?.
I'm just basing this on the Corbyn situation where the grass roots have voted for him twice but his parliamentary party doesn't like him.

IIRC his party isn't really a party as we in the UK would define it. He is not a member of the socialists or republicans &
I don't think his party has a single MP