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Post by lagatta on May 20, 2012 23:44:42 GMT
That is more important than Cantat beating his companion Marie Trintignant to death? Though obviously, that was no fault whatsoever of Duflot's. Just commenting on the ridiculous emphasis on "fautes de goût".
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2012 4:58:00 GMT
Well, Xavier Cantat is not exactly responsible for the actions of his brother Bertrand. The right would not cast a stone about this anyway, because the principal Minister of Justice of the outgoing regime, Rachida Dati, had two brothers in prison for drug dealing.
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Post by lagatta on May 21, 2012 22:25:44 GMT
Did I make that comment? I thought I was sound asleep by then, I'm very spacy after an utterly mad rush of work.
Unless I thought it was something about Xavier Dolan (whom I find a pain in the arse) and Bernard Cantat.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2012 1:28:25 GMT
Well, anyway now we are moving along to the legislative campaign, which just started on Monday -- first round of the elections in 3 weeks. I am waiting to see who all of the candidates are in my district, because most of the election panels are still empty. They said that the average number of candidates per district this time is "only" eleven, down from 14 in 2007.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2012 8:18:40 GMT
I finally saw the list of candidates for my district -- there are 16 of them. Besides the bigger parties (Socialist, Leftist Front, Sarkozy's party, National Front, Greens), I see that we have 2 centrists, a dissident ecologist, 3 far left candidates, and a number of miscellaneous confetti candidates. My district is pretty much no contest, because the Socialist will win with 65-75% of the vote in the second round. He is one of the traditional "elephants" of the party and a former Minister of the Interior, during which time he gained much respect from the traditionally not-very-leftist police by listening to them instead of just imposing new orders on them.
I was also examining our new 11 international electoral zones which will be sending representatives to the National Assembly for the first time. Some of the districts are logical (USA+Canada, Switzerland+Liechtenstein, Bénélux...) but others perplex me. Monaco was thrown in with Spain+Portugal+Andorra whereas it should have more logically been with Italy. Germany and Austria are mixed with the Balkan states. The UK and Ireland are with Scandinavia and the Baltic states. Israel is separated from its geographical neighbours and put with countries like Italy, Greece and Turkey while Lebanon and Saudi Arabia are in a district that extends all the way to South Africa.
Anyway, all of these people have a great advantage over the rest of us, because they are going to be allowed to vote by Internet. Of how I long for the day that I will be able to do the same!
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Post by bjd on May 25, 2012 9:26:07 GMT
Do you know whether there is a time limit for French people to live abroad and be able to vote in French elections? I have Canadian citizenship, but since I'm non-resident, I'm not allowed to vote, which I find perfectly reasonable.
I haven't seen any posters yet here, although it's a given that the Socialist candidate will win here. Interestingly, in the municipal elections, the vote was 51% Socialist/49% opposition. In the presidential one last month, it was 65% for Hollande.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2012 10:54:12 GMT
I don't know what the conditions for them to vote are. I should ask my friend in Brazil who has been there just since last July. He is quite political and would certainly have taken the necessary measures to vote -- and on top of that he lives near the French consulate in Sao Paolo.
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Post by hwinpp on May 25, 2012 12:50:17 GMT
I've been out of Germany for nearly 7 years and I can still vote. I think I can vote as long as I want ;D
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2012 13:10:05 GMT
I get messages from the American Embassy at every election telling me to vote, too. But the one and only time I voted in the United States was 1972. There was only one name on the ballot for the House of Representatives since the person was running uncontested. I thought I was living in Russia.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2012 19:34:43 GMT
I haven't seen any posters yet here
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Post by mich64 on May 25, 2012 21:03:14 GMT
These permanent poster boards are such a better idea then when our Politicians are in an election.
Each candidate will print up signs from billboard size and down and place them all over the city. Mostly at intersections of major roads.
Some candidates will go door to door to introduce themselves and ask if you will post their sign on your lawn.
There is a by-law that states all signs have to be taken down so many days after the election. We find that the winning candidates remove them very quickly, many of the losers take their time and I do remember them when they run the next time and make sure I do not vote for them.
This is much tidier and you know where to go when you want the information.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2012 21:26:05 GMT
There are indeed numerous things that I like about the French system. During the campaign, it is totally forbidden to place posters elsewhere.
The only "inconvenience" that we have to face is the presence of militants handing out tracts at metro entrances and the market. Really not much of a problem.
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Post by lagatta on May 26, 2012 1:02:42 GMT
Is it illegal to place posters in one's window or balcony? I didn't know it was a law; thought it was just customary not to do that, just as people in France rarely wear buttons or t-shirts espousing a cause, even if they are rather passionate about it, with the sold exception of taking part in some kind of rally.
Tracts and selling little party newspapers is a French tradition - not a problem as long it is not aggressive or intimidating.
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2012 5:15:26 GMT
Yes, it is illegal to display a political poster anywhere in public other than the official election posting boards.
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Post by bjd on May 26, 2012 7:25:32 GMT
And fortunately those posting boards are put up a few weeks before elections, then removed afterwards.
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2012 10:54:49 GMT
Of course one place you can get more electoral information than you could ever want is the street market. I decided to take what was given today (I could have had more if I had zigzagged around.) I saw that the magic of Photoshop was at work with the Front de Gauche, because the last time I had seen the two candidates on page 2 of this thread (actually candidate + alternate), they were positioned differently on a red background. Now they are standing right in front of my building with my Space Invader!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2012 19:09:58 GMT
Yesterday, I received the big envelope with all of the political documentation for the first round of the election this Sunday.
Here are the names of the parties and the main slogan on their tracts (unsorted):
A gauche toute! (All the way to the left!) -- Against austerity: an anticapitalist and ecologist alternative
Solidarité et progrès (Solidarity and progress) --A world without the City or Wall Street
Mouvement democrate (Democratic movement) --A free and independent movement
Front de gauche (Leftist front) --With the leftist front, you have the power
Parti radical (Radical party) --The audacity of youth
L'alliance écologiste indépendante (Independent ecological alliance) --Political citizens beyond the rift of left and right
Debout la république (Republic, stand up) --100% independent candidates
Europe écologie-Les Verts (Europe ecology-The greens) {this is actually two parties that have merged} --New energy for change
Parti ouvrier indépendant (Independent worker's party) --No to austerity and the golden rule!
Parti socialiste-parti radical de gauche (Socialist Party-Radical left party) {these are 2 parties which are almost always allied and indistinguishable from each other} --With François Hollande, succeed to change things
Parti chrétien-democrate-France écologie (Christian-Democratic party-France Ecology) --the right wing with convictions
Union pour une majorité de progrès (Union for a majority of progress) --the change is here
Front national (National front) --for a legislature that is really national
Lutte ouvrière (Workers' struggle) --the will of the exploited masses to become a political force
------
I have to confess that my biggest laugh has to go to the slogan of the UMP "the change is here." The UMP is Sarkozy's party which has been in power for the last 10 years.
As to who will get the last laugh, we'll find out on Sunday night.
I confess that I was a bit disappointed not to have a tract from the Pirate Party which also has a candidate in my district. The Pirate Party has managed to win a number of seats in German regional elections. It of course is in favor of just about everything that is illegal.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2012 18:54:40 GMT
We're finally finished with elections for another two years or so. Municipal elections are due in 2014 but due to French magic, the terms can be extended for an additional year if it is determined that the population is tired of voting. Anyway, the Socialists won massively, so you can expect to learn of a few changes inside the country in the near future although foreign policy is unlikely to change. And naturally, foreign policy is the only thing that interests most people outside of the country.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2012 21:14:31 GMT
To retire this thread, here is what happened. The left (pink and red) won a major victory for the next 5 years. They will have no excuses if they screw everything up. Here is how Paris voted. I live in the 17th electoral district. To give you an idea of how radical the difference of the various neighbourhoods of Paris is, my district voted 73% for the Socialist candidate. District 14 voted exactly the opposite. The green zones are where the Green party won. It is not as strong as it appears, but the Socialists gave the Greens certain districts in exchange for their support in the other Socialist districts. There won't be any more elections for another 2 years when we have the municipal elections.
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