Free Republic

The various factions big and small moving towards the two rounds of voting for the National Assembly (June 12th and 19th). "Left" leader Jean-Luc Melenchon riding high in polls for the first round of voting leading other factions but after the consolidation of support in the second round his united "Left" faction will best get 165 of the 577 seats according to the polling. The National Rally of Marine Le Pen trails both the "Left" faction and the faction supporting President Emmanuel Macron. Her best outcome in the second round polling data is 80 seats. The polling data as it...

France faces a brutal two-week campaign over the country’s future, as the centrist incumbent, Emmanuel Macron, faces the far-right Marine Le Pen for the presidency, positioning himself as a pro-European “progressive” against what he calls her anti-Muslim, nationalist programme and “complacency” about Vladimir Putin. Macron topped Sunday’s first round of the French presidential election with 27.6% of the vote, ahead of Le Pen’s 23.4%, according to initial projected results by Ipsos for France Télévisions. He scored higher than his result in the first round five years ago, and clearly gained support in the final hours of the campaign after his...

In French politics the squeeze to keep Marine Le Pen from reaching the second round of the presidential election continues. It started with the entry of outspoken Tucker Carlson type TV pundit Eric Zemmour into the race. His outspoken views on Islam and crime drawing supporters away from Marine Le Pen. Zemmour even drew a few National Rally activists who formerly supported Le Pen into his ranks. Then the mainstream "Right" put a female candidate Valerie Pecresse into the race. Pecresse leads the large Ile-de-France region in and around Paris.... Now yesterday a new blow to Marine Le Pen came...

A new flavor in the French presidential race. Valerie Pecresse emerging from a "primary of the Right" in France to be the candidate of Les Republicains one of France's "mainstream" parties. Pecresse is President of the Ile de France region in and around Paris. Her victory last weekend led to instant polling that gave her second place in the first round behind incumbent Emmanuel Macron. And the polling for the second round showing Pecresse a winner over Macron by a narrow margin. Macron himself went before the media on Thursday for a press conference in the aftermath of the polls....

“You must now present your identity papers to have the right to watch the video of my declaration of candidacy. The thought police are no longer even hiding: they are showing off their tyrannical nature. The real fight begins,” a Google translation of Zemmour’s tweet in reaction to the censorship reads. The video, which was posted on Tuesday and has accumulated more than 2.5 million views, features the French journalist explaining why he chose to run for president overlayed with clips from the news and clips showing the European country. “For decades, the left and the right have led us...

Extension of the vaccine passport in France was approved 158-106 in the French Senate late Thursday. The date for the pass to end is February 28th of next year just six weeks before the Presidential Election's first round in April. The polling continues in that race with incumbent Emmanuel Macron in first place according to polling data published by BFM-TV. He would win the first round at 23 percent of the vote with Marine Le Pen at 19 percent. They would move onto a second round. But the third place candidate turns out to be Eric Zemmour the controversial Jewish...

This week a dramatic rise in natural gas prices in France. For those who heat their homes with natural gas its 14.3 percent effective Friday. There have been a series of gas hikes through the summer months and into September. Fears in government of reignition of the Yellow Vests movement linked to gasoline at the pump prices that sharply rose almost three years ago along with other energy prices. The hikes rolled back by the government in the face of early Yellow Vests protests... In politics the continuing hype of Eric Zemmour which takes Marine Le Pen down in polls...

A newspaper run by the Chinese Communist Party says that Australia is now “a potential target for a nuclear strike” after launching the AUKUS pact with the US and UK to build nuclear-powered submarines. The Global Times, which is controlled by the party, issued the warning as the trilateral security deal — set up to counter China — caused outrage in France, which was not invited to participate, and unease in New Zealand, which opposes nuclear energy. The propaganda outlet published an article titled, “Nuke sub deal could make Australia potential nuclear war target.” The article said: “Chinese military experts...

Michel Houellebecq, who first stirred controversy with sex novel Atomised, makes waves with book describing country after Islamist becomes president. Put France’s literary enfant terrible together with Europe’s most combustible political talking point, and sparks were always going to fly. Michel Houellebecq, whose tale of sex, mother-hatred and cloning Atomised was the French literary scandal of the Nineties, is turning his attention to “Islamisation”. His new novel Soumission (Submission), will not be published until January 7 but has already triggered a flurry of accusations that he is pandering to the growing Islamophobia gripping France. It is set in 2022 and...

Prominent French journalist Eric Zemmour was back in the spotlight Saturday after being barred by a news channel for saying Muslims were elbowing French people out of the suburbs, AFP reports. The iTELE channel said late Friday that Zemmour would not be invited back to a chat show he has been appearing in since 2003 following an outcry over his latest remarks. Zemmour, who recently published a best-seller titled "The French Suicide," is no stranger to polemics and has been convicted of inciting racial hatred. The latest controversy erupted after he gave an interview to Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper...