I guess it could be a good thing if the right vote is split enough to get centre vs. left candidates through to the final round.
@Geof_Cox …that was one of the key take aways from the article
It’s quite interesting to watch the faces around us as the votes are called out…
I’ve sat in on a few French General Election nights here in our commune …
First round:
Often Le Pen gets quite a lot, but never quite enough…
As “Le Pen” is called out more and more… the looks between folk change from smug to … questioning… (what on earth?) and then onto horror (who is it-how can they be choosing that awful Party?)
Second round:
Le Pen gets very, very few votes as folk have somehow decided that there is no-way they can allow Le Pen to win.
2 Likes
According to an article in LeMonde this morning, the appalling Jean-Marie LEPen has come out in support of Zemmour rather than his daughter. It will be interesting to see how that affects support as Zemmour poses as an intellectual and I’m not at all sure he would appreciate that particular support vote 
Looks like the extreme right wing is going to be split…might be beneficial for Macron,…from an interesting article in the FT yesterday by Victor Mallet their Paris correspondent:
Harris Interactive for Challenges magazine gave Macron 24-27 per cent and Zemmour 17-18 per cent. Neither has yet officially declared their candidacy. The poll put Le Pen on 15-16 per cent.
The centre-right Républicains could also be squeezed between Macron and the extreme right. Long way to go yet though.
Haven’t listened to this yet (don’t have 45 minutes to spare this morning) - but skimming the text reveals some interesting - balanced - points, eg. Zemmour’s poll rating might have more to do with what’s happening in other parties and the media than real support for him - and in any case the extreme right has been here before and lost badly in the end.
Also broaches the oddity we all must have remarked as immigrants - the French have a dim view of their country, but in reality it’s doing relatively well; they are happy, while at the same time pessimistic!
1 Like
Oh - an afterthought - it does repeat a misleading statistic - that manufacturing industry in France has undergone a dramatic decline. This is not true in fact - it is mainly an artefact of the relative decline in manufactured product prices relative to services, so the value of output appears to have declined - but manufacturing volumes have not actually declined much.
Maybe another instance of French over-pessimism?
An old topic - but one which is going to be increasingly important
1 Like
You mean the party run by the family of which Jean-Marie Le Pen was the head, that formerly used be known as the National Front?
Lots of fans of MLP down here, her old squeeze is the maire nearby. Saw Bardella on the news yesterday, seems he is seen as a rising star with the young people, especially the girls. Reminds me of a creep.
Didn’t know she was in trouble. Bit of a surprise.
If Le Pen is found guilty, she could face fines and imprisonment – and potentially be declared ineligible to run for office for up to 10 years, hitting her presidential ambitions.
The whole FN set-up was geared to getting as much money as possible out of the EU and other organisations - they are a bunch of opportunistic crooks.
6 Likes