French elections

So, of course I can't stay out of politics even when they're in another language and country. France is electing a new president on Sunday!

The French electoral process is much different than the U.S. They have primary and secondary elections, but during the primary each political party has a candidate that can be voted for. There were 12 parties to choose from: the main two being the UMP (Chirac's party, to the right) and the Socialist party, which is more to the left. Right now the UMP has the most control in the government. So, after the primary elections a week and a half ago, two candidates were chosen for the secondary election (and you can only vote for those two, no write-ins). They are Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP, but very right and he and Chirac don't get along, former Minister of the Interior) and Segolene Royale (Socialist, former head of the education sector of the gov't).

Last night was the debate between the two, as elections are on Sunday. As of right now, Sarko is slightly ahead of Segolene, but it's well-known that in France people don't like to participate in surveys.

The topics of the debate were as follows: violence against women, raising the 35-hour work week, unemployment, taxes, the environment, education, immigration, the E.U., and international relations. I find this list very interesting, compared to the list that would be in a debate in the U.S. What about gun violence? War? Abortion? Gay marriage? Religion?

For one thing, religion cannot be discussed in politics in France. So to say, a candidate cannot use his/her religion to attract voters or as a reason for certain opinions, like the way politicans in the U.S. use it concerning abortion and homosexual unions. And murder rates in France are nothing compared to those in the U.S. (hmm, could this maybe have something to do a certain ammendent?) And of course France is currently not involved in a war. As for gay marriage, its not legal in France, but there is something called PACS that can be used by, from what I know about it, any two people. It's a legal union, but I don't know many details beyond that.

So who do I support? Segolene. She's goten flack for being too moderate, but comparing her to Sarko, there is no comparison.

Why I don't like Sarko: he believes pedophilia and suicide are caused by genetics and that they cannot be stopped or prevented. He thinks arresting parents as they get their children from school for not having papers and then deporting them back to their country is a good way of fixing the problem of illegal immigrants. In listening to the debate last night, he said that women are the only parents, and from what I saw, he doesn't seem to have much respect for women in general. The debate was him against Royale, with two tv journalists (a man and a woman). Even though he was debating Sego, he really only looked at the male journalist while talking. He also said "Madame" before nearly every phrase. It felt to me that he was trying to inforce that she was a woman, and therefore incapable of being president.

I could keep going on about why I don't like Sarko, but I think I'll stop here. Now you're informed about French politics. Oh, and Sarko thinks Bush is a great president. Segolene Presidente!