Down here it's just winners and losers

On Friday the Parti Socialiste, the erstwhile main left-wing political force in France, voted for a new First Secretary (party leader, but not necessarily automatic presidential candidate). The run off was between two women: Ségolène Royal (didn't they learn when she lost the presidential to the Gnome?) and Martine Aubry (mayor of Lille, best known in France for masterminding the 35-hour working week).

That in itself isn't very newsworthy, but what does incite comment is the bitter argument now raging between the rivals' camps on who actually won. Initially Royal was proclaimed victorious (some would say unusually early into vote-counting), before the party leadership was finally bestowed to Aubry. Since Saturday both women and their lieutenants have been bickering, crying foul and generally disputing any result that says they lost. Royal's camp even demanded a re-vote, if you can believe it. A somewhat foolish suggestion, as people won't vote any differently. Re-count all you like, but demanding a second vote is just desperation.

The party's governing council is supposed to be re-checking all the results and confirming the result today. The main news bulletin is on now, but no news from the bigwigs thus far. And as you can imagine, the longer this infighting drags on, the bigger the smug smile on the faces of right-wing UMP Sarko-groupies. Any political movement that can't stop fighting amongst themselves is doomed to electoral failure. See the horrid Tories all through the 90s.

While I can't suppress a bemused smile at this débâcle, the sad fact is that the biggest loser here is France. As the Socialists, the most mainstream and biggest left-wing party, hurtles towards implosion and oblivion, France is left without an electorally-viable choice on the left of the political divide. Which means more Gaulist and righty governments and presidents. You'd better get used to it, French people, because the Socialists risk leaving the country with no choice.

Shame!

True colours?

It would appear that some people just don't know how to cope when things don't go their way. A fair few incidents of unrest across France following the gnome's victory on Sunday. That's just not a good move on the part of the protesters. Listen children, you were given the chance, along with the rest of the electorate, to express yourselves. Turns out there were more people who disagreed with your choice than agreed with it. That does not mean you can go about burning people's cars and smashing up shops. It means you just shut up and put up with it. You will have another chance only next month to express yourselves, during legislative elections. You are lucky, because how many countries just impose a government, and how many others rig the elections, and how many others restrict suffrage to a privileged few? Feel blessed you live in France and not Zimbabwe, or Nigeria, or Turkey, or Syria to name just a few.

Also cheered to notice the unions are already threatening to throw their toys out of the pram come the autumn. Some things never change.

Gnome is president-elect of France

So that's it. France has decided and it's chosen the gnome. Not a huge surprise. Hey-ho. I suppose now if I don't want to be expelled, I need to start getting up early. I already go to work so that's not a problem. Still, it's worrying, I mean, I can't go back to Scotland now can I?! Having said that, I have a network of friends willing to offer me refuge, Anne Franck-style. ;)

A few thoughts on this result...

I think the French, faced with a tough, "rock and a hard place"-style choice, have chosen the lesser of two evils. Turnout may have been high, but when one combines abstention and spoiled or blank ballots, more than 20% of registered voters chose to not choose. Mr Sarkozy's actual share of the vote is around 40%. Not a clear "moral majority" then.

That said, I think that Ms Royal was not the right choice for France, not now. Watching DSK, a "heavyweight" of the French left on TV just now, I find myself wondering if the Socialists didn't go for the wrong candidate after all. I would have voted for Dominique Strauss-Kahn, I think. A thought.

Commentators seem to be rushing to say that the French Socialist party, having failed now three times in a row to get someone into the Elysee Palace, needs a shakedown and a facelift. That I agree with. I don't think the party as it stands today fits with the economic (primarily) and social reality in France today. As time passes, electorates all over Europe are leaning more to the right. The perfect example of this is Britain, where a popular parlour game consists in spotting the difference between Labour and Tory policy. Just kidding (but then again, who does David Cameron remind you of? Cast your mind back eleven years...). No, seriously, there is a gradual swing to the centre-right. Is that because people are (relatively) better off? Is it caused by the media? Is it caused by globalisation? Who knows. I think it's certainly in part because we are "richer" than previous generations, but that's just my view. Given this context, labour and socialist parties need to soften and move more to the centre in order to appeal to a wider spectrum of voters...

It's also worth bearing in mind that France returns to the polling stations in a month's time for legislative elections. It is not impossible that they choose a lefty government. That'll be fun.

French police on "riot alert" in the banlieues

Saw this on timesonline:

But the possibility of a Sarkozy victory has put police on riot alert - the hardline former interior minister has never been forgiven for his pledge to jetwash "the scum" when young immigrants in the Paris suburbs started rioting two years ago.

It's a terrible shame. Unfortunately, if there is unrest in the housing schemes on the outskirts of France's big cities following a Sarkozy win, this will only serve to prop up his arguments. He will be pleased. He'll be able to say "look, see how they react when things don't go their way. They destroy their neighbourhood, their local shops and other people's property." The intelligent choice would be to abstain from violent street unrest.

Many thousands of disaffected youths registered to vote for the first time in these elections. They have participated in the democratic process and expressed their opinions and allegiances through the ballot box. That shows a (newly developed) sense of citizenship which can only be admired. I really truly hope no one spoils it by kicking up a fuss if the result doesn't go how they want.

Anyone but Sarko

Here in France it would appear that a fair few voters are so anti-Sarkozy (the rightwing candidate) they'll vote for socialist Ségolène Royal even though she doesn't represent anything they believe in just to bar his path. And it seems that Royal's campaign team have tapped into that sentiment and are currently demonising Sarkozy as some hardline, pro-US (the greatest evil in France), liberal free-market, anti-immigrant police-state proponent.

It's a tough one. Nicolas Sarkozy frightens me with some of things he says. He is hardline on issues such as immigration, integration and civil "unrest" amongst often 2nd & 3rd generation immigrant, French youths. I don't know how much of this rhetoric was just that, rhetoric to court the far-right vote, or how much of it he really holds dear... Like many residents of this country, I'm deeply concerned by what Sarko might do once elected.

Ségolène Royal on the other hand, absolutely terrifies me with the idea of what she won't do. She won't reform the bloated civil service, she won't stand up to labour unions that hold power and influence far outweighing their actual member numbers (significantly lower than in Germany and even the UK), she won't push for badly needed pension reforms. She'll just put up social contributions and taxes. And people like me, stuck in the middle (not scraping by, not comfortably off either), will foot the bill (as happens across the Western world, I feel).

Sarko might be scary but Royal would be bad news for France. Domestically she'll just let the rot spread. And internationally she will have zero credibility in the eyes of people like Putin and the future US president. I never thought I would feel like this before I came to live in France, but if I were to have a vote in this presidential election, I'd use it to vote on the right, something I've never done before and never thought I would do. The problem with the Socialists and Royal is that they are living in the 70s still. The world and the global economy have moved on since then, and they must stop with this illusion that we're all still working in steel factories and down the mines.

If France chooses Ségolène Royal I only hope that I and many other doubters are proved wrong when she pushes for badly needed reforms, and doesn't back down to the syndicats by giving their coddled members even more unnecessary privileges.

I never really wanted to get Political with this blog. But please France, don't elect that woman.

France votes

The French are voting massively today, something that probably hasn't escaped your attention. Abstention rates would appear to be at record or near-record lows, which has to be a good thing for democracy...

I'm not so sure. There are 12 candidates in this first round. A lot of people are expressing the sentiment that, from the 12, they can't identify anyone who truly represents their personal politics and values. There appears to be a lot of choice, but a choice of what? Not much.

In 2 weeks' time it's back to the polling stations to choose between whichever two candidates come out tops tonight. It will almost certainly be a choice between someone you don't want and someone you really don't want. And this is democracy?