French Poll Results in Classic Left-Right Run-Off

France’s voters went to the polls yesterday and selected two candidates for the second round, one of whom will be the next French president. In the right hand corner and leading the initial round was moderate right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy with 36% of the votes cast. On the left was Socialist Segolene Royal, who would be the first female French president were she to win on May 6, who garnered close to 26% of the votes. It is often said that in the first round, the French vote with their hearts, and in the second, with their wallets. If so, one must like Mr. Sarkozy’s chances, but one cannot rule out Ms. Royal’s New Labour style of socialism carrying the day.

Turn out was heavy and shames America’s last election. Almost 85% of the registered 37. 6 million cast ballots. Some 45% of the voters opted for someone other than Mr. Sarkozy or Ms. Royal; the centrist Francois Bayrou pulled in 18% of the vote, while the odious, nativists, “know-nothing” Jean-Marie Le Pen won around 10.4% of the votes. Another 10% of the votes were scattered around leftist candidates (including various Trotskyites, after all this is France). Thus it is no surprise that the current polling suggests Mr. Sarkozy will have 52-54% in the next round and Ms. Royal will have 46-48%.

Nevertheless, if a week is a long-time in politics, two weeks approaches an eternity. Both candidates are running on a reform platform. Mr. Sarkozy wants to teach the French the value of hard work and believes that the American and British conservative movements of the 1980s and 1990s need repeating in France. Ms. Royal believes that there is a groundswell in support of reform, but it must be an effort to “reform France without brutalizing it.” Her style seems to be Blairite rather than Bolshevism.

Five years ago, the French didn’t vote in quite such numbers, and the second round was a nightmare pitting Jacques Chirac against the previously mentioned Mr. Le Pen. President Chirac was re-elected out of a desire to prevent anything worse from happening to the country. Yet one gets the impression that he has outstayed his welcome at the Elysee Palace and that French voters will be glad to see him retire.

Le Monde wrote, “After so many years of mistrust... we have had this record turnout, this democratic tidal wave and the qualifying of [Segolene] Royal and [Nicolas] Sarkozy which ensures that the second round is one of a clear choice. This is like a wiping out of 21 April 2002 so that no-one can say that the future is being built in spite of us.” Ouest France agreed, “This is like a celebration of democracy and a correction of the nightmare of 21 April 2002. France has pulled itself together... The polls had said for months and months that the French wanted a battle between the champions of the two great political forces of this country: Sarkozy and Royal. It will indeed take place.” And Le Figaro echoed those ideas, “What was the surprise in the first round of the 2007 presidential election? It was that there was... no surprise! Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy will thus be up against each other in the second round... A new campaign is beginning... And this fight promises to be a rough one.”

This journal, though, aligns itself with L’Express which stated, “In short, we’re back to where we were at the start of the campaign. Except for one excellent piece of news. The French voted en masse. The passion of the campaign was transformed into passion in the polling booths. And that must count as a major advance for French democracy.” People voting usually is.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home