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Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Friday, March 02, 2007
Presidential Election Soon in France
The Presidential elections in France are less than two months away. Nicolas Sarkozy, the candidate of the UMP party, has maintained a lead in the polls since he officially became his party’s candidate in early January. The lead has fluctuated, however, and many people still say they have not made up their minds.
The candidate for the Socialist Party, Segolene Royal, is certainly still within striking distance.
Another candidate has been rising steadily in the polls since the beginning of the year. Francois Bayrou, leader of the UDF party, has risen from 6% of people intending to vote for him in the first round, up to 19% recently. He is certainly a definite contender, and he could make the second round. The UDF is politically in the center, sort of between the UMP on the right and the socialists on the left. There are a number of far left and far right candidates as well.
In France a candidate must obtain 50% of the vote to win. Thus there will be two rounds, since it is virtually impossible for someone to get more than 50% of the vote in most years. This year there are about 17 candidates in all, if memory serves, so the votes will be spread out quite a bit. The second round of voting will be held in early May, two weeks after round 1 in late April. The top two candidates from the first round will make it to the second, so one person will obtain more than 50% of the vote at that time.
Opinion polls in France have the reputation of being very inaccurate. For example, they did not predict that the Socialist Party candidate in the last election in 2002 would not even make it to the second round. So the race looks tight and is certainly still up in the air.
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The candidate for the Socialist Party, Segolene Royal, is certainly still within striking distance.
Another candidate has been rising steadily in the polls since the beginning of the year. Francois Bayrou, leader of the UDF party, has risen from 6% of people intending to vote for him in the first round, up to 19% recently. He is certainly a definite contender, and he could make the second round. The UDF is politically in the center, sort of between the UMP on the right and the socialists on the left. There are a number of far left and far right candidates as well.
In France a candidate must obtain 50% of the vote to win. Thus there will be two rounds, since it is virtually impossible for someone to get more than 50% of the vote in most years. This year there are about 17 candidates in all, if memory serves, so the votes will be spread out quite a bit. The second round of voting will be held in early May, two weeks after round 1 in late April. The top two candidates from the first round will make it to the second, so one person will obtain more than 50% of the vote at that time.
Opinion polls in France have the reputation of being very inaccurate. For example, they did not predict that the Socialist Party candidate in the last election in 2002 would not even make it to the second round. So the race looks tight and is certainly still up in the air.
Back to Beaux Voyages
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