Wednesday, 18 April 2007
French elections
Primary hype may already be underway in the US, but in France it's coming down to the wire, with the next presidential elections being held this Sunday. It's a different system from the US one (our electoral college is pretty weird, when you think about it). But the big differences are there are no states or similar federal structures, and it's not a two-party system. This time there are twelve candidates on the ballot, and four of those have over 17% in the polls, so things are a little more up in the air. If no candidate gets more than 50% (which is virtually certain, as none have over 30% in the polls) there will be a second round between the top-two vote getters on May 6th. So it's more like an MLB play-offs than a Super Bowl. The stakes are high though as the top four front-runners are neck-and-neck, but only two will be on the ballot in round two.
I still can't vote myself (that and the lack of NFL and Major League Baseball are the worst things about living abroad). The time required for citizenship has been bumped up to (from two) to five years after marriage, so I'll have to wait until 2009 (assuming they don't bump it again in the mean time). But Emilie and I still had a good time and learned a lot at the big UDF rally in Lille last night. At the Zenith auditorium, (the same place where rock concerts are held, supporters of darkhorse candidate François Bayrou packed the house—in fact there were over 1000 people who couldn't be let in (due to the fire code). It was a very good rally and we were both glad we decided to go.
We'll see what happens on Sunday; the only thing that I think is sure at this point is that it will be a tight race.
