Any French citizen having reached the age of 23 and having satisfied the requirements of French law concerning military service [is eligible for the presidency of the Republic].
A person wishing to become a candidate must be sponsored by 500 elected officials* from at least 30 different departments or overseas territories, no more than one-tenth of them elected within a single department or overseas territory. The list of these sponsors (names and qualifications) is published by the Constitutional Council. No candidature is acceptable without these "500 signatures."
6 QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PRESIDENT
Statutory eligibility for the French presidency
PALAIS DE L'ÉLYSÉE
* Press reports refer to the signatures of "500 mayors". There are 36,782 communes or incorporated municipalities (there is no unincorporated land in the whole of France) each with its mayor. So signatures from less than 1.5% of the mayoral ranks is enough to become a presidential candidate eligible for state campaign funds and equal access to the media.
The French presidential season is in full swing. And France is fielding another impressive mess of candidates. This is the first French presidential race that Pave has followed, and we are still trying to catch the peculiar rhythms of French presidential politicking. Pave has only reported on a handful of candidates (here, here, here, here, and here for examples), but there are twelve certified candidates running (down from a crushing 40-odd aspirants). The field breaks down roughly into five candidates on the right and seven on the left. French political parties delight in endless Zeno-like divisions of winning constituencies.
France with her manifold party system, elects the president in "twice past the post" balloting. In the first round all certified candidates from all parties have a go. If no single candidate receives a majority there is a second round between the top two candidates. So candidates with little national support and single issue platforms have a shot at becoming one of two choices for president, as happened in 2002 when the fractious socialist opposition was denied its presumed second-round slot by Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Below are the current standings of the certified candidates.
QUESTION: WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR
IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION?
March 31, 2007 (Angus Reid)
03. 27.07
03.20.07
03.13.07
Nicolas Sarkozy
28%
31%
29%
Ségolène Royal
27%
24%
23%
François Bayrou
20%
17%
21%
Jean-Marie Le Pen
12%
13%
13%
Olivier Besancenot
4.5%
4%
3%
Arlette Laguiller
3%
2%
2%
Marie-George Buffet
2%
4%
3%
Philippe de Villiers
1%
1%
2%
José Bové
1%
2%
2%
Dominique Voynet
1%
1%
1%
Gérard Schivardi
0.5%
0.5%
0.5%
Frédéric Nihous
--
0.5%
0.5%
Source: BVA / Orange
Methodology: Interviews with 958 registered French voters, conducted on Mar. 26 and Mar. 27, 2007. No margin of error was provided.
So who are these folk? Below is Pave's crib sheet on the candidates.
On The Right:
- Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa, 52 = Sarko, UMP v2.0
(né le 28 janvier 1955 dans le XVIIe arrondissement de Paris)
Party: Union pour un mouvement populaire (l'UMP); Ensemble tout devient possible
He is the free-market, law-and-order, America friendly (as the French understand friendly) and Eurosceptical (as the Turks understand skeptical) candidate. Anathema to good chiraquiens, Sarko wrested control of UMP two years ago from Jack, its founder and once-titular head. Unelectable Jack exacted revenge by supporting Sarko, the political kiss of death.
(BBC profile.)
- François Bayrou, 55 = Purveyor of fine horse hockey
(né le 25 mai 1951 à Bordères, Pyrénées-Atlantiques)
Party: Union pour la démocratie française (UDF); La France de toutes nos forces
A horse breeder, M. Bayrou knows horse hockey. He believes he can govern from a political center that has no constituency. Of course, he may not need a constituency as he is also a dreamy EU federalist -- just leave France to Brussels. He has described the EU as "the most beautiful construction of all humanity". (Oh, surely not the most beautiful, M. Bayrou!)
(Telegraph profile.)
- Jean-Marie Le Pen, 78 = Bad boy of French politics
(né le 20 juin 1928 à La Trinité-sur-Mer, Morbihan)
Party: Front national (FN); Défendre les Français avec les Français
M. Le Pen is the bad Frenchie from central casting. A perennial presidential candidate but not much of a politician, he is a magnet for the disaffected and frightened (and this), la France d'en-bas (and this). He will say just about anything for a vote. His platform is big on celebrity and short on policy, consisting largely of a collection of soundbites and press clippings. Roundly denounced as a sometimes-raging sometimes-closeted fascist, unlike other minority candidates, he enjoys steady support the year-round, year to year. In the 2002 1er tour, M. Le Pen was the unmistakable "send a message" vote.
(AFP profile.)
- Philippe Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, 57
(né le 25 mars 1949 à Boulogne, Vendée)
Party: Mouvement pour la France (MPF); Retrouver la fierté d'être Français
A career politician, M. Villiers is president of the Conseil général de Vendée and an EU deputy. He is campaigning for a France impervious to both Islam and Brussels. He invented the fabulous "Polish plumber" boogeyman -- and the less frightening "Latvian mason" and "Estonian gardener" -- to scare up opposition to the EU Directive on Services in the Internal Market (scil., Bolkestein Directive).
(Wikipedia profile.)
- Frédéric Nihous, 39
(né le 15 août 1967 à Valenciennes)
Party: Chasse - Pêche - Nature - Traditions (CPNT, Hunting-Fishing-Nature-Traditions); La ruralité d'abord
M. Nihous is a lawyer by training and has done a stint as an EU parliamentarian (1999 to 2002). As best we can make out M. Nihous wants more hunting, fishing, and nature in a more static France. CPNT is a bleak party, looking fondly to the 19th century for its notions of a desirable traditional France. Yet M. Nihous has found room to support the French traditions of abortion, homosexual adoption, and laïcité (the French social doctrine regulating religion). M. Nihous would like to be reincarnated as a duck. (« Si je pouvais me réincarner, ce serait en canard. »)
(Présidentielles 2007 profile.)
On The Left:
- Marie-Ségolène Royal, 53 = Ségo, socialism with curvy edges
(née September 22, 1953 à Dakar, Senegal)
Party: Parti Socialiste (PS); Plus juste, la France sera plus forte
Mlle. Royal is a provincial figure struggling to become a national figure. She originally excited a politically jaded French public with her presidential bikinitude. That and Pave's sure-fire tips for winning secured her the PS nomination. Her earlier maverick positions (and here, for example) have since been churned into the mush of an unfunded party-line 100-point manifesto (scil., platform).
(BBC profile.)
- Olivier Besancenot, 32 = The little red postman
(né le 18 avril 1974 à Levallois-Perret)
Party: Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire (LCR); Nos vies valent plus que leurs profits
Postal carrier M. Besancenot is some sort of Communist -- but not a Trotskyist he says, which is a little sticky as his party represents France in the (reunified) Fourth International, the international funhouse of Trostkyists. But like any sort of Communist, he wants a worker's revolution to turn France upside-down. He pledges that if elected president he will abolish the presidency. This strikes us as self-dealing on rather a grand scale just to collect cushy unemployment.
(Wikipedia profile.)
- José Bové, 53
(né le 11 juin 1953 à Talence, Gironde)
Party: Sans étiquette (No party); Osez Bové, un autre monde est en marche
José, or Joseph as his parents knew him, is a repeat felon and all-purpose activist, whose métier is exploiting farmers. He is against all the usual evils that conspire against a placid perfect revolutionary world. For example, he believes the Mossad fakes anti-semitic attacks in France. Although he is running for president of France, if elected, it is apparent he will devote a great deal of time saving the great big world. Much like Jack.
(BBC profile.)
- Marie-George Buffet, 57
(née Marie-George Kosellek le 7 mai 1949 à Sceaux dans les Hauts-de-Seine)
Party: Parti Communiste Français (PCF); Rassembler la gauche populaire et antilibérale
Mdm. Buffet is the head of the really big Communist party in France. She has called on the French left to put aside differences and unite -- that is, to support her candidacy. Alas, as you see from this list, each left minority party would prefer she put aside her candidacy and support its own instead.
(Présidentielles 2007 profile.)
- Arlette Laguiller, 66 = Six is a charm
(née le 18 mars 1940 à Paris)
Party: Lutte Ouvrière (LO); Qui d'autre peut se dire sincèrement dans le camp des travailleurs ?
Five-time presidential loser, Mlle. Laguiller will call it quits if she does not ascend to the Élysée this go-around. She is running on the what-would-Leon-Trotsky-do? platform, scil., world revolution and worker's victories without end.
(Présidentielles 2007 profile.)
- Gérard Schivardi, 56
(né le 17 avril 1950 à Narbonne)
Party: Parti des Travailleurs (PT); Rupture avec Maastricht et l'Union europeenne / Pour la défense des services publics, Pour la défense de la laïcité, Pour la défense des 36 000 communes
M. Schivardi is a master mason and the mayor of Mailhac. He had taken to styling himself as le candidat des maires before being slapped down by the Association des maires de France, which took exception to the characterization. He wants out of the EU arguing that the French know best how to screw up France. Yet another Communist, another Trotskyite, M. Schivardi will perch his government on the barricades, hang the capitalists (in a humane manner), and nationalize the economy.
(Wikipedia profile.)
- Dominique Voynet, 48
(née le 4 novembre 1958 à Montbéliard, Doubs)
Party: Les Verts; Le contract écolo, l'écologie au coeurs de nos vies
Presidential two-timer Mme. Voynet's day job is senatrice of Seine-Saint-Denis. If elected she will make France more earth-friendly with underperforming energy technologies and a standard of living on par with Bangladesh.
(Telegraph profile.)
PFFT (What is this?): What a crew! 3 | Rayonnement français 0
The poll numbers for [the great spoiler] Jean-Maire are too low by 5 points. Many people will not admit to liking/preferring/voting for J-M.
Now which one if elected would be the quickest to islamify france?
Mr. Barnes,
We hope to post soon on how the French polls use M. Le Pen to arrive at their candidate numbers.
Dr. Wright,
None of the candidates would actively islamify France. The islamification of France does not hang so much on policies as it does on inaction. French governments prefer doing nothing to being responsible for an identifiable policy.
Contrary to the valentines reported in the press for years, France has never integrated her minorities. Her immigrant population is less and less assimilated with each passing generation -- the exact opposite of arriving immigrants' aspirations.
DGB
Contrary to the valentines reported in the press for years, France has never integrated her minorities
That would explain why France, by far, has always been the largest European melting pot. 1930's France had proportionally more foreign population than the United States. It is recent waves of immigration that are causing concern. I find it highly ironic, Damian, that you should generalize about a legitimate issue that has been of a similar concern in many ways in the US, never mind 200 years of segregation or passing recent bills making English the official language.
Bonjour,
400 ans de présence afro-américaine aux USA !
Pas de 2% de mariages mixtes !
Voilà l'imposture du "melting-pot" que les Yanks vendent au Monde entier ....
-"Melting pot" ?
-Gated communities in fact !
Uh-oh, generalizing in a blog's comment thread. Well, we confess to lacking the time and resources for detailed scholarly responses such as M. Zmx provides.
No, we must content ourselves with simply responding to the question posed by Dr. Wright.
M. Zmx's idea of integration appears to be identical with French colonialism, which would explain that big old 1930s French melting pot. M. Zmx also seems to think that during 200 years of bad old American segregation that France was the same open and loving society he believes it to be today. Never mind 400 years of colonialism. Never mind the French slave trade. Never mind 57 years of shafting colonial comrades-in-arms. Never mind Metropolitan racial massacres. Never mind all these evidences of racial comity -- because whatever the charms and allure of 1930s France et al., contemporary France is today host to a growing disaffected and unassimilated immigrant population. And no fabulous reach-back in American history will obscure or change that.
It is laughable that M. Zmx thinks to chide Idaho for making English its official language when French is the official language for the whole of France. M. Zmx's own president cannot bear to be in the same room with a Frenchman speaking English.
Whatever could be the point? Oh, none really. Just another detailed scholarly response by M. Zmx.
DGB
If Damian really knew what he was talking about, he would know that Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish family names and others (mine is Dutch) are not uncommon at all in French society. Don't feel so guilty Damian, I only mentioned segregation, not slavery.
It is laughable that M. Zmx thinks to chide Idaho for making English its official language when French is the official language for the whole of France. M. Zmx's own president cannot bear to be in the same room with a Frenchman speaking English.
And why would Idaho make English "official", Damian? Apparently ,a href= "http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17889756/" >Mr Gingrich also seem to see there is a problem, as he says so eloquently.
As for Chirac's stupidity, we all remember Mr Bush in Paris afew years ago, fuming at a French reporter addressing Chirac in French, of all languages. At least Chirac can put two sentences together coherently, even in English.
Apparently M. Zmx is unaware of the difference between the protocols of press courtesies toward visiting dignitaries and his president's responsibilities in representing the Republic. Mr. Bush stood his ground while Jack absented not just himself but the whole French delegation from an EU symposium.
The canard that Mr. Bush cannot put two sentences together is the usual brainless comfort his detractors take in their own supposed superiority. The one thing we can be sure of about Jack, is if he puts two coherent sentences together, he will have told you two different lies. The tragedy for France is the great abundance of sentences that Jack delights in putting together.
Though M. Zmx brings up Mr. Gingrich, France managed to institute an official language long before he could have advised her. If M. Zmx knew anything of his own country's history, he would know that as recently as 1794 French was the native tongue of only 12% of France. Republican revolutionaries sought far stronger measures than Idaho's to enforce its practice (see Abbé Grégoire"s quaintly titled Sur la nécessité et les moyens d'anéantir les patois et d'universaliser l'usage de la langue française (Report on the necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalise the use of the French language). Fast forward 200 years and France institutes the Toubon Law, much of the original ruled unconstitutional -- for the French too have limits. So again what is M. Zmx's point? He disapproves of Idaho's mild and local remedy so we may assume he lives in agony under French law.
M. Zmx does a reach-back in American history on segregation, using this to counterpoint the placid racial comity of France. We cite several instances of French racism and racial abuse and M. Zmx comes back to tell us, well, his surname is Dutch. Whatever is his point?
Nowhere have we contested that France is ethnically diverse. Just the opposite, as it speaks to our point of France's current ethnic woes.
One does not so much argue a point with M. Zmx as one explores the mysterious fractured concatenation of his detailed and scholarly presentations.
DGB
