So Emmanuel Macron 58% , Marine Le Pen 42% and a third didn’t vote, so is this democracy in action working?
In the uk we often think that it does not really matter which party is in power because there is not much to choose between any of them and to some extent that is true. That is not to say that the different parties do have some fundamental differences on how they think the country should be governed.
One of the things that has struck me during the local elections that are going on in the UK at the moment is the general support of the government on how the covid19 crisis has been dealt with. I suspect that any party would have done most things the same way but the fact that all the politicians worked together in the last couple of years is clear.
So why is France so important in the democratic system? Most people vote for the least worst rather than the party that they support. Let’s face it , most people vote for the party that favours them so if you are at the extremes of wealth and privilege it is an obvious choice but otherwise you will just be keeping the party that you dislike the most out.
France was very different this time. I would have thought that anyone that actually was in favour of Macron or Le Pen would be in a minority and this was borne out by the voting .
A third did not vote , which is understandable, but the problem with this policy is that if you don’t vote in this situation you might find that the person that can do you real damage gets the power. When you have the choice between a strong Europe and someone who wants to break up Europe and NATO from within you are looking at really important decisions.
The French have made their decision , not just for themselves but for the world and it shows that you vote for the least worst , not the best.
In countries with PR, the opposite is true. People vote for the party that represents their views. Some people see FPTP as a fundamental part of the British character. They ought to be asking themselves why they think that.