Politics, French Style : Regional Elections

Politics are a major part of the French Culture, everyone is involved and everyone expects everyone else to be at least knowledgeable in the elections, candidates, and political parties. In the U.S. we hardly hear about the political parties unless its election time, that was a major difference I also noticed while in France. The people I have met are all passionate and hold true to the side they support and I came into this situation without a clue or opinion, I quickly found out I needed to be aware and also pick a side and defend it. As the semester has progressed I have talked to many French people young and old and they amaze me every time when we get to politics. I met a 20 year old who was so passionate about his region of Normandy and the political party that dominates at this point (PS) la parti socialiste.

France is a representative democracy, which means that the people elect the public officials of the executive and legislative. Like in the U.S. the French procedure also involves going to vote at the ballot box, although some larger cities, like Paris, use electronic voting despite the controversy of its safety.

The elections that have just taken over French conversations, newspapers, and televisions have been the Regional elections in France. They were held March 14 and 21 and the results probably have taken most by surprise. The left (parti socialiste) have taken every region except for the Alsalce. This has a significant effect on Sarkozy’s political party, the UMP, because his party has lost the regional’s elections. His growing unpopularity could be the cause to this drastic change from majority of votes for PS rather than the UMP.

On the side of the U.S., I have noticed some similarities to the French political scene in the sense of the media and coverage. When it comes to presidential elections and other regional elections in the U.S. the media covers all aspects to inform people so that voters show up at the ballot boxes. The French media coverage, whether it be in the newspaper or in the news, the elections are being covered. I have learned more about politics here in France because of it has been such an important topic among the young people here in France as well that, in return, have motivated me to learn more about my own government.