Despite not having posted on this blog in many months due to a busy final semester of college, I am back today to talk about a subject I’ve found recent interest in: French politics.
You may have heard about the April 2022 French presidential election, or Présidentielle. In case you didn’t, (*spoiler*) Emmanuel Macron was just re-elected for his second five-year term as President of France.
The French presidential election is a bit different from the way we do it in the United States. I’ve learned a lot of information in reading Le Monde and watching YouTube videos from people such as Bla Bla Kaity and Hugo Décrypte, especially as to how the French process works. First, to run, a candidate must collect over 500 signatures from elected officials before a certain date. In French, this is called le parrainage and it acts as the first filter of candidates. This year, 12 people made this requirement to enter the first round (or premier tour) of the election. Below are the 12 candidates and the parties they each represented (on a scale from extreme left to right):
Extrême Gauche (Extreme Left)
Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste: Poutou
Lutte Ouvrière: Arthaud
Parti communiste Français: Roussel
La France insoumise: Mélenchon
Parti socialiste: Hidalgo
Europe Ecologie les verts: Jadot
Centre (Center)
La République en marche: Macron
Résistons: Lassalle
Les Républicains: Pécresse
Rassemblement Național: Le Pen
Debout la France: Dupont-Aignan
Reconquête: Zemmour
Extrême Droite (Extreme Right)
During the first round, if one candidate earns more than 50% of the votes, they become President. However, with so many candidates, usually this is not the case. Instead, the two candidates with the highest percentage of votes go to the second round (or second tour in French). Unlike in the United States, French citizens get to vote directly towards who becomes President, without the filter of the electoral college.
While this sounds like a great system, in one of my French classes this semester, we talked about how France is not a true democracy. I’ll explain why.
In France (and la Martinique, la Guadeloupe, la Guyane, la Réunion, Mayotte, French Polynesia who also vote), there is still the option to abstain (l’abstention) where you would not vote at all. There are also les votes nuls where you can tear your ballot or make a note. Finally, there are les votes blancs where you can submit a blank ballot (bulletin) or an empty envelope. While the idea of this seems intelligent, these votes nuls and votes blancs are not counted. Even if the majority was not for either candidate, regardless, the person with the highest percentage would be elected.
This year, the second tour was between Marine Le Pen (far right) and Macron (center but leaning right). Many people, especially the younger generation, were voting for Macron solely to avoid the extreme right. There were many students who wanted a candidate from the left who lost by a small percentage in the first round: Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Mélenchon had advocated for ecological action, something that neither Macron nor Le Pen were heavily focused on. There is an increasing number of ecologists in France, which could be an entirely separate post of its own.
While that does not cover absolutely everything, I hope to have shared the biggest things to know about the recent French presidential election. Everyone may not be happy, but at least in my opinion this was a MUCH better outcome than if it had gone to Le Pen. I am very curious to see what happens in the next five years!
Links:
Julia's Journey in Paris 