The French election ‘gimmick’ is a bit different and some ought to review it, and what happened in 2017.
Under the French system, a multi-party atmosphere exists. Eleven parties had active participation in the run-up election (March 2017). But if you go back to the six months prior....there were probably over sixty folks competing within eleven parties.
Various people who were figured in the fall of 2016 to come out on top....were tossed into scandal episodes, and fell to the side. In one case, a guy had his wife hired in previous years for some outrageous amount of salary. That single detail knocked him out.
So when the smoke cleared after the primary, you had two ‘players’ (Le Pen and Macron). Six months prior....neither of the two would have been predicted as the final two. At this point, they move onto the final election (23 April 2017). The idea is that you would have voters from the lesser candidates have to make a decision, and support some candidate....with the thought that you are ‘for’ the individual. It’s a fake feeling, but the French political establishment believes this will really settle matters.
So Macron ends up with 66-percent of the vote. In truth...more than two-thirds of these votes are from non-Macron voters. They are basically saying...if you only have a choice of Macron or Le Pen....well, it’s not much of a choice.
All the weaknesses in Macron’s background, his lack of being elected to any office prior, or the humorous marriage to ‘mother’? All noted, but with the way this is built...it didn’t matter. I expect the riots to continue, with the police at some point accidentally killing someone and creating a ‘hero’ situation. This past week....one of the tear gas canisters ended up around some old pensioner lady, and she ended up coughing herself to death.
.....So far only stun grenades have been used to push back the GiletsJaunes protestors. It remains to be seen if there will be a return to the violent scenes of last weekend.
.....Protesters break out in the Marseillaise, swiftly followed by the chant “Macron resign” at Arc de Triomphe
The axiom is the French vote their heart in the first round and vote their wallet in the second round.
The WSJ had an interesting take on the French voting system this past week.
LePen is not the answer, and Macron may be the last best hope?
He now appears to be toast.