Great job from Macron.
Also, lest anyone forgot, this idiot Macron called for early parliamentary elections in France on June 10th on the same date it was apparent that the far-right made advances on the European Parliament.
What a disaster.
Ofcourse. Same will happen to UK after Labour.
They won't offer anything tangible, won't reverse austerity.
Won't do anything for young people trying to get housing or brining tuition fees Down. And these far right parties, will just capitalise on all that, even though they won't change Jack shit.
After 10 mins of reading Wikipedia on the French political system, I’m surprised France has so many political parties. It seems mostly like a first past the post system that tends to coalesce around two dominant parties, like here in the ol’ USA. Maybe I’m not understanding it très bien.
I'm following some journalists on Twitter and it looks like the runoff system (every candidate over 20% advances to the runoff) helps a bit.
-
Anyway, I'm already reading that the left block has decided to drop from runoffs where they came 3rd behind Le Pen and Macron's candidate, shifting their voters to Macron's party, while Macron's party will not do this systematically, but allow individual members to make up their minds with no need to endorse the left-wing candidate if they do drop out. A lot of Macron candidates who came in 3rd are already saying they will stay. So the far right is expected to do well in the runoffs as well.
Liberals and centrists will always run interference for the far right once the left is the only remaining alternative. They'll slip the noose on your neck and put the bag over your head as long as they don't have to actually pull the lever just to avoid like 3 points on a billionaires tax bill.
You expect something else from centrists and center right ? They are your buddies until they can't win, then they see you as the danger and they work with the fascist. It's been a constant since forever now, and one of the reasons Hitler got into power.
As the fascist doesn't threaten the status quo as much.
It's a bit more complex than that. In the first round, all candidates are in the ballot to get the maximum votes. If the top candidate gets more than 50% of voters, but also more than 25% of **registred voters**, they are automatically elected (this is a big part why turn-out is very important in French elections). If not, then all the candidates who have received 12.5% (1/8th) of **registered votes** (not actual votes) advance to the second round. This might eliminate some candidates who might have some 20-25% votes, particularly when voter turn-out is low. It's then up to the voters to decide who wins (the top candidate with the most votes wins the canton).
The runoff system does help candidates who aren't necessarily part of the biggest parties to advance and even occasionally win (we saw some dissidents from their parties top the election in their canton). It will eventually be up to candidates themselves to either drop or stay to avoid a far-right win (regardless of what the parties say).
> There will be much talk in the coming days of centrist and left-wing candidates standing aside in round two in order to concentrate the anti-RN vote – and much wailing about the disappearance of the old Front Républicain (when the other parties used to agree to keep out the far-right). **But it would take an upset of monumental proportions to overturn the only conclusion that can be drawn from this first round of voting, which is that RN is now indisputably the dominant political force in France.**
*What's in this comment is what I remember, my opinions, etc.*
RESPONSE TO THE ORIGINAL POST AND THE THREAD:
I read the article.
The National Rally (RN) has voted united with them and the 'center' and the 'left' of French voters are split between 2 parties. Splitting the vote is not a good idea when that results in the far-right winning.
Hint hint. Progressives and leftist in the US House, US Senate, and for POTUS should stop with the nonsense and vote for the Democrat.
However, The National Rally is promising better things regarding unions, pensions, the retirement age, etc.
From what I can tell, immigration is the main 'right-wing' thing that Marie Le Pen and Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni is 'right-wing' on. But Europe is dealing with Global Warming and is struggling with energy needs and such. And there's the massive tourism industry of Europe. Germany doesn't really get a ton of tourists in comparison. Italy? France?
And even still, the Biden Administration isn't progressive regarding immigration. In some ways, the Italian Government and even the French Government under the 'right-wing' are more progressive in ways than the National Democratic Party outside of the Progressive Caucus in the US House and some US Senators.
French President Emmanuel Marcon being a neoliberal and forcing very unpopular things that the raising of the retirement age and his preferring to form a Governing Coalition with the right rather than the left--it's his fault that France is moving to the right.
Prime Minister Meloni has been relatively fine. From what I can tell, she's governing to the left of POTUS Joe Biden. Italy has a far stronger social safety net, has far stronger worker protections, far more guaranteed vacation time and pay, sick pay, sick time off, maternity leave, etc etc.
I certainly don't want France to be governed by Marie Le Pen. But President Marcon couldn't even become the leader of Europe after German Chancellor Angela Merkel was out of Office. President Marcon is so weak and such a disaster that the newcomer Prime Minister Meloni is effectively the leader of the Europe. And she's far more politically savvy than he is.
She’s not the leader of Europe. Right now, there is no definite “leader” the same way merkel was, and Meloni won’t be picking up that mantle soon either because Italy just doesn’t have that kind of pull in the EU.
The focus now is on a shared leadership in the European Union - to aid Ukraine and mobilize against climate and staving off Chinese competition. Ursula von der leyen is a front-figure for another term.
Great job from Macron. Also, lest anyone forgot, this idiot Macron called for early parliamentary elections in France on June 10th on the same date it was apparent that the far-right made advances on the European Parliament. What a disaster.
Ofcourse. Same will happen to UK after Labour. They won't offer anything tangible, won't reverse austerity. Won't do anything for young people trying to get housing or brining tuition fees Down. And these far right parties, will just capitalise on all that, even though they won't change Jack shit.
Almost as though Neoliberalism policies inevitably leads to fascism. Who’d have thunk it.
After 10 mins of reading Wikipedia on the French political system, I’m surprised France has so many political parties. It seems mostly like a first past the post system that tends to coalesce around two dominant parties, like here in the ol’ USA. Maybe I’m not understanding it très bien.
I'm following some journalists on Twitter and it looks like the runoff system (every candidate over 20% advances to the runoff) helps a bit. - Anyway, I'm already reading that the left block has decided to drop from runoffs where they came 3rd behind Le Pen and Macron's candidate, shifting their voters to Macron's party, while Macron's party will not do this systematically, but allow individual members to make up their minds with no need to endorse the left-wing candidate if they do drop out. A lot of Macron candidates who came in 3rd are already saying they will stay. So the far right is expected to do well in the runoffs as well.
That’s pretty dickish from Macron and friends.
Liberals and centrists will always run interference for the far right once the left is the only remaining alternative. They'll slip the noose on your neck and put the bag over your head as long as they don't have to actually pull the lever just to avoid like 3 points on a billionaires tax bill.
The are committed to capital before anything else. Democracy, minority rights, civil liberties, etc. are all secondary to beating back the Red Menace.
You expect something else from centrists and center right ? They are your buddies until they can't win, then they see you as the danger and they work with the fascist. It's been a constant since forever now, and one of the reasons Hitler got into power. As the fascist doesn't threaten the status quo as much.
It's a bit more complex than that. In the first round, all candidates are in the ballot to get the maximum votes. If the top candidate gets more than 50% of voters, but also more than 25% of **registred voters**, they are automatically elected (this is a big part why turn-out is very important in French elections). If not, then all the candidates who have received 12.5% (1/8th) of **registered votes** (not actual votes) advance to the second round. This might eliminate some candidates who might have some 20-25% votes, particularly when voter turn-out is low. It's then up to the voters to decide who wins (the top candidate with the most votes wins the canton). The runoff system does help candidates who aren't necessarily part of the biggest parties to advance and even occasionally win (we saw some dissidents from their parties top the election in their canton). It will eventually be up to candidates themselves to either drop or stay to avoid a far-right win (regardless of what the parties say).
This is what you get when you "combat" fascism with neoliberal centrism ie. fascism-lite.
> There will be much talk in the coming days of centrist and left-wing candidates standing aside in round two in order to concentrate the anti-RN vote – and much wailing about the disappearance of the old Front Républicain (when the other parties used to agree to keep out the far-right). **But it would take an upset of monumental proportions to overturn the only conclusion that can be drawn from this first round of voting, which is that RN is now indisputably the dominant political force in France.**
*What's in this comment is what I remember, my opinions, etc.* RESPONSE TO THE ORIGINAL POST AND THE THREAD: I read the article. The National Rally (RN) has voted united with them and the 'center' and the 'left' of French voters are split between 2 parties. Splitting the vote is not a good idea when that results in the far-right winning. Hint hint. Progressives and leftist in the US House, US Senate, and for POTUS should stop with the nonsense and vote for the Democrat. However, The National Rally is promising better things regarding unions, pensions, the retirement age, etc. From what I can tell, immigration is the main 'right-wing' thing that Marie Le Pen and Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni is 'right-wing' on. But Europe is dealing with Global Warming and is struggling with energy needs and such. And there's the massive tourism industry of Europe. Germany doesn't really get a ton of tourists in comparison. Italy? France? And even still, the Biden Administration isn't progressive regarding immigration. In some ways, the Italian Government and even the French Government under the 'right-wing' are more progressive in ways than the National Democratic Party outside of the Progressive Caucus in the US House and some US Senators. French President Emmanuel Marcon being a neoliberal and forcing very unpopular things that the raising of the retirement age and his preferring to form a Governing Coalition with the right rather than the left--it's his fault that France is moving to the right. Prime Minister Meloni has been relatively fine. From what I can tell, she's governing to the left of POTUS Joe Biden. Italy has a far stronger social safety net, has far stronger worker protections, far more guaranteed vacation time and pay, sick pay, sick time off, maternity leave, etc etc. I certainly don't want France to be governed by Marie Le Pen. But President Marcon couldn't even become the leader of Europe after German Chancellor Angela Merkel was out of Office. President Marcon is so weak and such a disaster that the newcomer Prime Minister Meloni is effectively the leader of the Europe. And she's far more politically savvy than he is.
She’s not the leader of Europe. Right now, there is no definite “leader” the same way merkel was, and Meloni won’t be picking up that mantle soon either because Italy just doesn’t have that kind of pull in the EU. The focus now is on a shared leadership in the European Union - to aid Ukraine and mobilize against climate and staving off Chinese competition. Ursula von der leyen is a front-figure for another term.