Tag: French elections

C’est Ouf or What the heck happened in France

Four weeks ago, June 6-9, there was a parliamentary election in Europe, the tenth since the formation of the EU, the first since Brexit. The Far Right won the most delegates in France. Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, her handpicked ersatz leader of RN (Rassemblement National), began to crow. Within one hour of getting the results, without any warning to his deputies or his “friends”, President Macron dissolved the standing Parliament and called for new elections. They would be held on Sundays: June 30 and July 7. 

The country went into a tailspin. Journalists tried to guess why he did this. Most thought it was suicidal. In France, there are many parties from the Far Left to Center Left to Center Right to the Far Right. Macron first ran as Center neither left nor right but has turned out to be far more Right. He won his second election by a hair, many French voting against Marine Le Pen than voting for Macron. His newly formed party, Ensemble (Together) did not win a majority in the Parliament in 2022 so Macron has had difficulty passing many of his reforms. In many cases, the government has used the Article 49 of the French Constitution, paragraph 3 (Article 49.3) which allows the government (essentially Macron) to pass a law without a vote. Some journalists think that he knew he’d reach his limit of doing that. People were angry. He seemed to be favouring the wealthy. If he hadn’t dissolved the parliament, there could have been a call to pass a motion of No Confidence.

My friend, Fatiha, has been explaining to me what has happened day by day. The voters of France were galvinized. For many, the goal became ‘keep the Far Right from getting power.’ The same night as the dissolution, spurred on by François Ruffin, four parties on the left banded together and called themselves Nouveau Front Populaire. These parties do not agree on many things but they do agree that letting the Far Right get power would be disastrous for the country. They put aside any disagreements they had and campaigned as one party They agreed on a social program determining how much each piece of the program would cost. They worked on this for four days. They were the only party to think out and present a detailed plan. Fatiha and her friends were out on the street every day passing out flyers. They went door to door (mostly apartments, they would start at the top floor and work their way down) and talk to people. I asked Fatiha if people slammed doors on her. No, she told me. Some didn’t want to talk but many did. She would send me a photo of the campaigners at the end of the day all happy and exhausted.

Then came the first vote on Sunday, June 30. The outcome was 33% for the RN (Marine Le Pen), 28% for NFP (the Left), and 21% for Macron’s party. All the rest had under 12%. If a delegate received over 50% of the votes AND 25% of the constituency had voted, they were in. Marine Le Pen was in on the first vote. On July 7, all the delegates that had received over 12.5% would run against each other. This meant a triangle. There was real fear that votes would split between Ensemble and the Left giving the Far Right the majority. The left suggested and then followed through with the idea that if their delegate was in third place and RN had a chance of winning, they would drop out making it a two way run off. Macron’s party wasn’t so good. Many did drop out but many stayed. Historically, the Left has helped Macron against Le Pen probably giving him the presidency in both years 2017 and 2022. The favour has not been reciprocated or acknowledged according to Fatiha. I was now caught up in the breathtaking drama of this election. At the first election, 66.7% of France showed up to vote. “63% of French voters turned out to vote for the second round of the country’s snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, July 7, slightly less than for the first round (65%). It is the highest turnout since 1981. These figures confirm intense interest in the vote.” Le Monde

We all know the outcome. Nouveau Front Populaire won 182 seats. Macron’s Ensemble won 168 seats. Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National won 143 seats. A hung parliament. “A hung parliament with a large eurosceptic, anti-immigration contingent could weaken France’s international standing and threaten Western unity in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. European Union officials, already learning to deal with far-right parties in power in Italy and the Netherlands, are watching France closely. And in Rome, Pope Francis chose the day of the French vote to warn against “ideological temptations and populists”, adding: “Democracy is not in good health in the world today.” Le Monde—July 8.

The last time this kind of thing happened was in Mitterand’s Presidency. He honoured the French vote by choosing a prime minister from the party that got the most seats even though it wasn’t a majority. Fatiha has no faith that Macron will do the same. She is ready for anything sneaky, egotistical, and anti the French people. A majority of people now feel as she does. I asked her if she thought anything would happen before or during the Olympics. My common sense says it all should wait. The Olympics are fraught enough. No one knows. The French want a Parliament. Macron may try and stall. So far, he has not made an appearance on television. So far, he has not talked to the French people.

My sister wrote to me and wanted France to send NFP to the US to galvanise them. I wrote her back that there is a fatigue in the US. Much as I detest Marine Le Pen and her beliefs, she is not a criminal, she hasn’t stirred up the kind of violence that Trump has, she seems to keep her language in check. Americans seem inured to the most detestable way of speaking, they expect lies on a daily basis. We, in France, have watched stunned as all the news after the Biden-Trump debate has been about Biden and his age. Nothing about Trump’s criminal acts, his inflammatory speeches and actions, and he seems much more deficient in brain cells than Biden. WTF is going on? (Read my friend Pamela Drake’s Substack for an opinion: 

https://pameladrake.substack.com/p/the-ice-floe-or-the-endtimes

And what the heck does “C’est Ouf” mean? It’s a wonderful expression!

“C’est ouf – roughly pronounced say oof – is a colloquial French expression to express shock or surprise. 

It is the rough equivalent of ‘it’s wild’ or ‘it’s crazy/mad’ in English or just ‘wow’. (From Fatiha: ‘ouf’ also means “What a relief!” This is what made the front cover of Liberation so brilliant)

C’est ouf can be either positive or negative, depending on the context. 

The word ouf is the verlan, or backwards slang, of ‘fou’ which means crazy. While ouf is colloquial, you can still hear it used by people of different generations – not just young people.”—the local.fr

More excitement (and I’m afraid not the good kind) coming up.

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A bientôt,

Sara

France’s snap elections

Dear Francophiles and Friends

The following is a reprint from an on-line journal that I subscribe to. All my friends in the US seem very confused by what is going on. I hope this helps.

“5-minute guide to the latest on France’s snap elections

written by Emma Pearson – emma.pearson@thelocal.com

Election news: 5-minute guide to the latest on France's snap elections

Protesters gather to demonstrate against the far-right in Paris. Photo by Zakaria ABDELKAFI / AFP

From party alliances to shock announcements and the emerging key figures, here’s your essential roundup of all the latest from France’s snap parliamentary elections.

France will head back to the polls at the end of this month for snap parliamentary elections – called by Emmanuel Macron on Sunday in the wake of his party’s humiliating European election defeat at the hands of Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National.

The president’s announcement caught everyone off guard – even key members of his own party – so three days later, political groups are scrambling to get ready and fight the very short election campaign.

READ ALSO What do snap parliamentary elections mean for France?

Here’s a roundup of the latest election news:

Republican front

The most widely-heard call in France over the last three days has been for a Front républicain.

The concept of a ‘republican front’ is not a new one, it essentially means that when necessary mainstream parties put aside their differences in order to combat the extremists in the far-right movement.

Most recently it’s been seen in the second round of the presidential elections of 2017 and 2022 – the final two candidates were far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron and in that context plenty of people who detest Macron and all that he stands for cast their vote for him because they considered that the alternative – a far-right president of France – was much worse.

In the context of these parliamentary elections, the Front Républicain is more to do with political parties and essentially involves parties making agreements not to run candidates against each other in certain constituencies, in avoid to avoid splitting the vote and allowing in the Rassemblement National candidate.

Talks on these potential agreements are mostly still ongoing but it would involve, for example, the four left-wing parties who made up the Nupes group agreeing to run a single Nupes candidate in each seat – rather than diving the leftist vote by fielding one candidate from the far-left La France Insoumise, one from the centre-left Parti Socialiste, one from the Green and one from the Communist party.

It’s early days, but most of these agreements are far from being done deals, despite pleas for unity.

Eric effect

One politician who appears to be swimming against the republican tide is Eric Ciotti, leader of the right-wing Les Républicains who has announced that he would be open to an alliance with Le Pen’s party.

Les Républicains is one of the two parties that dominated French politics in the post-war period – the party of presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.

Badly weakened since 2017 and at risk of fading into irrelevance, the party has been steadily drifting to the right for several years, electing in 2022 the very right-wing Ciotti as party leader. 

An alliance with Le Pen would not come as a surprise to anyone who had read his most recent manifestos and policies, but the thought of the political heirs of Charles de Gaulle getting into bed with the far-right has caused shockwaves in France and within the party itself.

Protests

There have been several protests, especially in Paris, this week but unions and left-wing parties have called for mass demos across France this weekend.

Intended as a show of solidarity against the far-right, the protests are intended to echo 2002 when million of people took to the streets after Jean-Marie Le Pen progressed to the second round of the presidential election.

READ ALSO What would a victory for Le Pen’s party mean for France?

Key figures

It’s not only opposition parties and the media who were taken by surprise by Macron’s election call, it also caught senior members of his own party off guard, with several saying privately (or less privately in the ear of friendly journalists) that they think Macron’s ‘grand pari‘ (big gamble) is a bad idea.

This number appears to include prime minister Gabriel Attal who was conspicuous by his absence for 48 hours after the announcement (even failing to post on his usually active Instagram account). However he’s now back and saying that he will do whatever it takes to “avoid the worst”.

Those of Macron’s ministers who are members of parliament – and in France it is not necessary to be an MP in order to be a minister – are also declaring their candidacy in these elections and so far there are no surprises . . .  

Key dates

Candidates have until Friday to confirm that they are standing. The formal campaign period begins on Monday, which is when election posters will start to go up and TV debates will be organised.

Voting takes place in two rounds; Sunday, June 30th and Sunday, July 7th.”

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Please leave comments below with thoughts and questions and I will do my best to answer as the elections move closer

A bientôt,

Sara

Personal Update from Paris

A lot of you in the US are writing me and asking “How is it in our beloved Paris?” Somewhat different and somewhat the same as what you are reading in the papers. Last Thursday, President Macron spent 26 minutes on national tv outlining what has happened so far and what will happen. He was very serious and didn’t try to make this pandemic sound less than it is. At that point, only four days ago, he urged all people seventy and over to stay home unless absolutely necessary. He said transportation would stay the same but hoped that work and people would work from home. As of Monday, he closed all schools and universities. He said this was up to each and every one of us. The virus knew no borders and didn’t carry a passport. That was Thursday.

I’m discovering that the French are very stubborn and obstinent people. They proclaimed that nothing was going to stop them from living their lives. So they were out and about. The metros were a bit less crowded but not by much. So on Saturday, the French administration announced that as of Saturday at midnight, all public places that weren’t necessary for our survival were to be shut down, closed, fermé. That got some people’s attention. By Sunday noon, the markets caught up with the US and all the toilet paper and such were gone. However, the municipal elections were not postponed. On websites, times were posted when best to go vote. A friend went back and forth about whether she would vote or not. Finally she decided to. She went at the last moment, waited till everyone was gone then went in to vote. Everyone was wearing masks and keeping all the voting paraphenalia as antiseptically clean as possible. I went out for about forty-five minutes just to walk, and the streets in the 16th arrondissement were full of people walking with children, with dogs and, since it was a lovely day, filling up the parks and green spaces. That was yesterday.

This morning at 8:45am, I received a notice from the administration that since the French were not doing as asked, we had forty-eight hours to decide where we wanted to spend the next forty-five days. As of tomorrow, there will be a 6pm curfew and the police will be in the streets urging people to go home. I dropped everything and headed out. I was prepared to be homebound for two weeks but not for forty-five days. I first went to the grocery store. Still no toilet paper. Then I headed for Picard which only sells frozen food, absolutely delicious frozen food. They were almost out of food and not taking any loyalty cards for discounts. I then headed for Marks and Spencer who sells my favourite yogurt. They looked like they had plenty of food though the yogurt was in short supply. When I asked, I was told they would be staying open. Picard, on the other hand, said they had no idea. On the way to M&S, I passed a florist. It wasn’t really open but the door was open. I asked if I could buy. They gave me 3 beautiful bouquets for about a third of the normal price. That will be the last of my fresh flowers I’m afraid. Finally, I went to the pharmacy. Not my normal pharmacy on Av. Mozart which had a long line snaking out the door and winding to the corner. I stopped at the one near M&S. I was the third person in line. We’ve been told pharmacies will stay open but…. I had no trouble getting what I needed.

Forty-Eight hours to decide where I want to spend the next 45 days. I knew my friends in Normandy and in Brittany would probably love to have me and my crazy cat come join them. I would love to go to Le Gers where I think my heart resides. But…..I have here, in my small apartment in Paris, everything I need to survive the next 45 days if I never go out. I have Netflix, I have enough books to read for at least a year. I have the expanded tv that has HBO series, Showtime and Canal+. I have the wonderful Zoom. Which allows me to have video conversations one on one or in large groups. I have my work which I do at home anyway. I just learned yesterday that ten of the world’s best museum’s are totally on-line and I can tour it visually. I was even given a jig-saw puzzle with 1000 pieces. That would take some time!

Yesterday, I defrosted my freezer. Something I should have done months ago And thank goodness I did. After shopping at what was left in Picard, I was able to fit for more things in the freezer. I have plenty of ‘projects’ to do. So as long as I talk to friends at least three or four times a day, I think I can do this! And that’s whats happening in Paris.

A bientôt,

Sara

PS As I was about to hit ‘publish’, I received an e-mail saying all non-essential travel to EU is to be banned for 30 days.

Jet lag, Macron and Technology

Ok, Macron first.  I’m not going to write about him and how he won the French presidential election.  Everyone else has written about it.  What I can say is that among my friends, mostly American, everyone was holding their collective breath.  The media was saying he would win by a landslide 60% to Le Pen’s 40%.  But we had all heard that before with Brexit and with Trump.  No one wanted to be the one to say it out loud and then be wrong.

IMG_6152 2.JPG

So it was with a huge sign of relief that the French went to bed last Sunday night knowing that their new President would be Emmanuel Macron or, as Le Match is calling him on their front cover, The Kid.  I went to sleep hearing horns honking and voices cheering.   I am in the 17th arrondissement and the victory party was in the 1st at the Louvre.  So there were many happy people that night.

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The hardest is yet to come

The majority of people were happy that Marine Le Pen lost.  No one really knows what a Macron presidency will look like.  Many in France didn’t vote or voted by leaving their ballot blank.  Banker and racist to these people are equal in their sinister meaning.  Macron’s party, Onward (On marche) is one year old.  He now must have members standing for election in the next months and they must win.  He needs the strength of his own party in order to achieve anything.  He is the elite and no one is sure what that means.  But I remind people that FDR and JFK were also the elite and we Americans look back on those two as two of the greatest Presidents in US modern history.  So Onward!

I have been back in Paris for 11 days.  I had probably the worst jet lag I’ve ever had.  Friends were saying I made no sense when I talked and for the first three or four days, I had the affect of being on drugs.  It occurred to me after five days that I was still less than three months from a serious hip operation.  I had been doing so well, walking a number of miles a week, throwing away my cane! and acting as if I was totally recovered.  But I’m not.  The doctor says there is 90-95% recovery in the first three months then it takes an entire year to have 100% recovery.

Standard jet lag lore is that it requires one day of recovery for every time zone one goes through.  I went forward nine time zones coming from Oakland, California to Paris.  I think my body may have gone into a bit of shock with the altitude, the jet lag and the recent surgery.  Sure enough, nine days after landing, I started feeling human again.  I wanted to explore this new neighborhood I’ve landed in while looking for a permanent place to live.  The weather has gotten a bit warmer and is much more inviting.

Something I keep getting reminded of and feel extremely grateful for is the importance of technology for someone like me.  I haven’t had a working french phone until today and the Wifi in my little studio was, at first, nonexistent and then very sketchy while I tried to figure out what was wrong.  On Thursday, I spent 1 hour at the SFR boutique with my not very good french (it’s amazing how much one can forget in four months) and my computer until the young man worked everything out.

I think it’s possible for someone like me to travel because WiFi, the internet, Skype keeps me connected to the world at large.  It’s very hard to feel lonely.  Cut all that off and it’s me in this small studio apartment unable to reach out to communicate.  It’s a blessing I love to read so much – because that is what I did – read 4 books in less than two weeks.

I don’t like reading about the kind of hacking the world experienced yesterday.  I feel grateful for my computer and WIFI every single day and want nothing to ever go wrong. Cyberspace is the Wild, Wild West.

A bientôt,

Sara

And now we have elections in France

After Donald Trump’s surprise win on November 9th, Marine Le Pen, of the Nationalist Front party here in France, called him to congratulate him.  She is hoping that the wind that has blown so far right in the UK and the USA will blow her into the Presidency of France next Spring.

François Hollande of the Socialist party and the present President, is extremely unpopular. The right (which in America would actually be the left) and the Centrist parties had a primary this past Sunday.  The French; and exPats with French citizenship; stood in line for at least an hour, paid 2euros and made their choices.  Alain Juppé, the Mayor of Bordeaux and a past Prime Minister-with a checkered past,  was favored to win.  Nicolas Sarkozy was one of the seven in the Primary and people were as much voting against him as they were for someone else.  François Fillon, who surprisingly ‘won’ the Primary, got 44% of the vote.  Juppé got 28% of the vote and Sarkozy got 20% of the vote.  Juppé and Fillon will have a run-off this Sunday, Nov. 27.  Sarkozy is out and Juppé and Fillon will be battling for Sarkozy’s followers.  “They” are saying whoever wins the vote on Sunday will probably be the next President of France.  That person will be running against Marine Le Pen and she will give them a run for their money.

Alain Juppé (courtesy of Reuters)

OF the two, Fillon is the more conservative.  He was Sarkozy’s Prime Minister in 2007 and although the two didn’t get along very well, Sarkozy is throwing his support and his votes to Fillon. Juppé is more right (left) but has a very checkered past.  It is unclear to me whether he did wrong or whether he took the blame for his President, Jacques Chirac. Either way, he has been a great Mayor for Bordeaux and, until Sunday, was the overwhelming favorite to win the Primary.

François Fillon—Sunday, after Primary (courtesy of Reuters)

As in the US, themes of economy, immigration and French identity, themes that Ms. Le Pen takes credit for bringing to the forefront, will be the dominating issues.  Fillon also is advocating a nicer, gentler relationship with Putin’s Russia.

Ms. Le Pen and her followers are feeling more confident than ever that she will prevail. Those in the know say whoever runs against her will win the Presidency.  They also said Brexit would never win and Trump didn’t have a chance.

Marine Le Pen, president of the Nationalist Front party (courtesy of Getty Images)

More to come,

A bientôt,

Sara