French Politics Thread I: Borne to be wild

[Meadowfields]

Macron selects Elisabeth Borne as PM

Hmm, seems like she's a member of the moderate social-democratic TDP, and only the second woman to become Prime Minister in France.

[Kilobugya]

Macron selects Elisabeth Borne as PM

Hmm, seems like she's a member of the moderate social-democratic TDP, and only the second woman to become Prime Minister in France.

Moderate ? She has been minister of labour for two years, and she has overseen a major downscaling of unemployment benefits that even the very moderate and centrist union CFDT called "une tuerie" ("a slaughter"). She also played a major role in privatizing railroad and sacrificing "fret" (transport of goods on trains, which is much more ecological than using trucks) before when she was ministry of transports. I wouldn't call her moderate at all, she's clearly focused on dismantling public services and workers protection.

[Meadowfields]

Hmm, seems like she's a member of the moderate social-democratic TDP, and only the second woman to become Prime Minister in France.

Moderate ? She has been minister of labour for two years, and she has overseen a major downscaling of unemployment benefits that even the very moderate and centrist union CFDT called "une tuerie" ("a slaughter"). She also played a major role in privatizing railroad and sacrificing "fret" (transport of goods on trains, which is much more ecological than using trucks) before when she was ministry of transports. I wouldn't call her moderate at all, she's clearly focused on dismantling public services and workers protection.

I meant moderate social-democrat, not moderate itself. At least the party calls itself a "moderate" social-democratic party, which you know can be untrue.

[Meadowfields]

Lol the Wikipedia article is a bit biased:

Borne was Minister of the Ecological and Inclusive Transition (2019–2020) after serving as Minister of Transport (2017–2019) in the First and Second Philippe government.[10][11][12] During her time in office, she held out against weeks of strikes and demonstrations in 2017 to end a generous pension and benefits system for SNCF railway workers.[13]

In 2020, Borne was appointed Minister of Labour, Employment and Economic Inclusion in the government of Prime Minister Jean Castex, succeeding Muriel Pénicaud.[14] In that capacity, she oversaw negotiations with unions that resulted in a cut to unemployment benefits for some job seekers.[15] During her time in office, France’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in 15 years and youth unemployment to its lowest level in 40 years.

[Kilobugya]

In that capacity, she oversaw negotiations with unions that resulted in a cut to unemployment benefits for some job seekers.[15] During her time in office, France’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in 15 years and youth unemployment to its lowest level in 40 years.

The most amazing part of that is all those who don't understand how those two are directly related. Official unemployment statistics are based on people registered to Pole Emploi, not on people who are actually unemployed. And the more the benefits are cut, the more people just don't register to Pole Emploi because... they have no reason to register, or they get expelled for minor infraction (got a friend removed from Pole Emploi and losing his benefits because he arrived late to his appointment because there were problems on the bus line he needed to take to go there).

[Ariddia]

The official campaign clip (with English subtitles) of the Parti animaliste for the upcoming parliamentary election.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1412969989206155

I've been out campaigning for them with my girlfriend a couple of times in Normandy. We won't manage to get anyone elected to the National Assembly, but the aim is to make it less easy for the government and Parliament to ignore the large number of people who want the many different forms of unjustifiable cruelty against animals to stop. And to point out that our societies' industrialised violence against animals also has direct and indirect negative impacts on human health and on human well-being.

[Ariddia]

In many constituencies, it seems the second round will be between Macrons's rubber-stamp candidates and the candidates of the left-wing alliance.

Macron's team, it seems to me, aren't really campaigning. Not in a positive sense. They're not making proposals, they're barely saying anything about what they would do if Macron gets his wish of near-unlimited powers for the next five years. Instead, they're focusing on trying to scare voters away from the left, describing all the parties of the left as "far-left" extremists. Which they self-evidently aren't.

It's a nasty brand of negative campaigning (i.e., "Don't think about what our party stands for: Just be very scared about the other party and vote for us") that we would really be better off without.

[Madrinpoor]

Hmm, seems like she's a member of the moderate social-democratic TDP, and only the second woman to become Prime Minister in France.

Moderate ? She has been minister of labour for two years, and she has overseen a major downscaling of unemployment benefits that even the very moderate and centrist union CFDT called "une tuerie" ("a slaughter"). She also played a major role in privatizing railroad and sacrificing "fret" (transport of goods on trains, which is much more ecological than using trucks) before when she was ministry of transports. I wouldn't call her moderate at all, she's clearly focused on dismantling public services and workers protection.

Yeah, Macron is just virtue signaling

[Ariddia]

The leading article in Libération today is about the various lies that Emmanuel Macron and his ministers keep repeating about Mélenchon and the parties of the left, to try to scare voters through deliberate untruths.

The President's dishonesty is damaging our democracy.

[Shrillland]

Here are the current projected vote counts:

NUPES 25.4%
Ensemble: 25.2%
RN: 19.1%
LR: 13.6%
R!: 4.1%
Other Left: 3.7%
Other Greens: 2.7%
Other: 2.3%
Far Left: 1.3%
Other Centre: 1.3%
Sovereign Right: 1.1%

And the seat totals:

Ensemble(led by En Marche): 255-295
NUPES(led by LFI): 150-190
LR: 50-80
RN: 20-45
Other Left: 15-25
Other: 10-17

Keep in mind that although Melanchon's more or less managed to tie in vote share, his vote is concentrated in a smaller amount of departments, mostly in urban or industrial centres like Paris, Marseilles, Foix, and the more industrial parts of Normandy.

[San Lumen]

Here are the current projected vote counts:

NUPES 25.4%
Ensemble: 25.2%
RN: 19.1%
LR: 13.6%
R!: 4.1%
Other Left: 3.7%
Other Greens: 2.7%
Other: 2.3%
Far Left: 1.3%
Other Centre: 1.3%
Sovereign Right: 1.1%

And the seat totals:

Ensemble(led by En Marche): 255-295
NUPES(led by LFI): 150-190
LR: 50-80
RN: 20-45
Other Left: 15-25
Other: 10-17

Keep in mind that although Melanchon's more or less managed to tie in vote share, his vote is concentrated in a smaller amount of departments, mostly in urban or industrial centres like Paris, Marseilles, Foix, and the more industrial parts of Normandy.

En Marche is Macron's party right? if so it looks like they are on track to keep their majority.

[Revanchist Bosnia]

In many constituencies, it seems the second round will be between Macrons's rubber-stamp candidates and the candidates of the left-wing alliance.

Macron's team, it seems to me, aren't really campaigning. Not in a positive sense. They're not making proposals, they're barely saying anything about what they would do if Macron gets his wish of near-unlimited powers for the next five years. Instead, they're focusing on trying to scare voters away from the left, describing all the parties of the left as "far-left" extremists. Which they self-evidently aren't.

It's a nasty brand of negative campaigning (i.e., "Don't think about what our party stands for: Just be very scared about the other party and vote for us") that we would really be better off without.

Sounds like France needs the Jacobins back.

[Kilobugya]

En Marche is Macron's party right? if so it looks like they are on track to keep their majority.

He'll likely have a relative majority yes, but not sure at all he'll have an absolute majority (he needs 288 seats for that). But everything is still open, it'll depend widely of the turn out, especially among the youth. Many who voted for the left in the presidential election didn't vote yesterday, if they "wake up" and vote next Sunday, Nupes (left-wing alliance) might still get a majority, it's not likely, but not totally impossible either.

[Ariddia]

So: The Parti animaliste candidate whom my girlfriend was suppléante to got 1.5% in their constituency. Not a bad result, considering it's a constituency of small rural towns and villages, and considering the party received almost no media coverage and didn't have money to send its platform to voters.

In my constituency in the eastern suburbs of Paris, the outgoing MP is a veteran member of LR (the main party of the right). In 2017, he was narrowly re-elected ahead of Macron's candidate, while the LFI (left-wing) candidate came third. This time, the candidate of the united left (Communist, endorsed by the NUPES coalition) came first with 32.6%, ahead of Macron's candidate (29.5%), while the LR candidate was eliminated! The situation is similar in other constituencies in my region. The mainstream right is fading, Macron's people are losing ground but holding on, and there's a surge of the united left.

Oh, and the Parti animaliste candidate, whom I voted for, got 2%. Not bad at all, though sadly not enough to gain much visibility for the issues the party campaigned on.

I doubt the PCF candidate can win in the second round in my constituency, but he'll have my vote. I'm finding Macron and his party increasingly repulsive as they lie to try to smear the left and to scare voters away from it. By resorting repeatedly to untruths and to negative campaigning, attacking the opposition rather than proposing anything themselves, the government are harming our democracy. I hope voters see through it and punish them for it.

[Ariddia]

The results of the first round, by the way (from Le Monde):

NUPES (coalition of the left and the centre-left): 26.1 %
Macron's parties (centre-right): 25.9 %
RN (far-right): 18.7 %
LR & allies (right and centre-right): 11.3 %

Macron's parties are ahead in 203 constituencies, and have won one of them outright. The NUPES are ahead in 194 constituencies, and have won four of them outright. The far right are ahead in 112 constituencies. LR and its allies are ahead in 42.

Macron has now made a statement saying his party is the only one that is true to the values of the Republic. The leaders of the left and the centre-left have quite rightly pointed out that what he has said is not only wrong but dangerous, as he's implying that people must vote for him otherwise they're betraying the country.

I didn't think I could be even further disgusted by Macron and his government, but I am now.

[Meadowfields]

So: The Parti animaliste candidate whom my girlfriend was suppléante to got 1.5% in their constituency. Not a bad result, considering it's a constituency of small rural towns and villages, and considering the party received almost no media coverage and didn't have money to send its platform to voters.

In my constituency in the eastern suburbs of Paris, the outgoing MP is a veteran member of LR (the main party of the right). In 2017, he was narrowly re-elected ahead of Macron's candidate, while the LFI (left-wing) candidate came third. This time, the candidate of the united left (Communist, endorsed by the NUPES coalition) came first with 32.6%, ahead of Macron's candidate (29.5%), while the LR candidate was eliminated! The situation is similar in other constituencies in my region. The mainstream right is fading, Macron's people are losing ground but holding on, and there's a surge of the united left.

Oh, and the Parti animaliste candidate, whom I voted for, got 2%. Not bad at all, though sadly not enough to gain much visibility for the issues the party campaigned on.

I doubt the PCF candidate can win in the second round in my constituency, but he'll have my vote. I'm finding Macron and his party increasingly repulsive as they lie to try to smear the left and to scare voters away from it. By resorting repeatedly to untruths and to negative campaigning, attacking the opposition rather than proposing anything themselves, the government are harming our democracy. I hope voters see through it and punish them for it.

Difference between Parti animaliste and NUPES's Révolution écologique pour le vivant?

[Ariddia]

Difference between Parti animaliste and NUPES's Révolution écologique pour le vivant?

REV is a party of the radical left. Although its focus is animal rights and the environment, it has very radical left-wing proposals for example on economic and social policy (reduce work to 28 hours per week; a minimum wage of 2,000 € in exchange for an obligation to work; public funding for people's access to the press; making fines proportional to income...) and a utopian foreign policy.

By contrast, the Parti animaliste focuses exclusively on issues affecting animals, and is neutral on other areas of policy. It's neither on the left nor on the right: It considers that animal well-being should be a trans-partisan issue, and doesn't want to muddy the waters by combining it with unrelated issues. This way, a vote for the Parti animaliste is a vote specifically for animal well-being.

What both parties have in common, though, is a recognition of the individuality and sentience of animals (i.e., their ability to feel, physically and emotionally), and a recognition therefore of their inherent interests and needs.

[Phoenii]

.. his vote is concentrated in a smaller amount of departments, mostly in urban or industrial centres like Paris, Marseilles, Foix, and the more industrial parts of Normandy.

good ground for his parliament seats chance. even if press-tv uniquely discusses about chances of seats and if slight or relative majority and whose, i find cobblestone is uncertainty of proposals and politics.

une fortune solide pour les espoires des s assurer ses sieges. mais pourtant que les medias donnent les estimes minutieuses des votes uniquement, je trouve que la vrai defie c est des decider la politique.

for electoral cartels cover theirselves with uncertainty about their supposed measures, respectively. pour que, en fait, l’un ou l’autre ont a la fois de l’opacite sur leurs reels intentions des politiques a mener.

[Keep Summer Safe]

First results coming in look hopeful for NUPES

[Shrillland]

Here are the full results:

Ensemble: 245
(En Marche: 168
MoDem: 48
H: 27)
NUPES: 131
(LFI: 66
PS: 28
PE: 15
PCF: 13)
RN: 89
UDC: 64
(LR: 61
UDI: 3)
Misc Left: 21
Misc Right: 10
Regionalists: 10
Misc Centre: 4
Sovereigntist: 1
Misc: 1
PRG: 1

So both Melanchon and Le Pen now have a lot of influence in the new Chamber.

[Thermodolia]

Here are the full results:

Ensemble: 245
(En Marche: 168
MoDem: 48
H: 27)
NUPES: 131
(LFI: 66
PS: 28
PE: 15
PCF: 13)
RN: 89
UDC: 64
(LR: 61
UDI: 3)
Misc Left: 21
Misc Right: 10
Regionalists: 10
Misc Centre: 4
Sovereigntist: 1
Misc: 1
PRG: 1

So both Melanchon and Le Pen now have a lot of influence in the new Chamber.

And UDC if they decide to.

Either way Melenchon is unlikely to be PM as I don’t see Ensemble joining with him. It’s going to be either UDC or RN. UDC would net them 309, while RN would net them 334

[Meadowfields]

Here are the full results:

Ensemble: 245
(En Marche: 168
MoDem: 48
H: 27)
NUPES: 131
(LFI: 66
PS: 28
PE: 15
PCF: 13)
RN: 89
UDC: 64
(LR: 61
UDI: 3)
Misc Left: 21
Misc Right: 10
Regionalists: 10
Misc Centre: 4
Sovereigntist: 1
Misc: 1
PRG: 1

So both Melanchon and Le Pen now have a lot of influence in the new Chamber.

And UDC if they decide to.

Either way Melenchon is unlikely to be PM as I don’t see Ensemble joining with him. It’s going to be either UDC or RN. UDC would net them 309, while RN would net them 334

I feel like Ensemble grouping with UDC is much more likely as...well...they're still enemies with RN.

[Ariddia]

Le Monde has more precise results, as the Ministry of the Interior (whose numbers have been echoed by most media) labelled as "other" several MPs for overseas départements and territories who are in fact associated with the NUPES. The full results published by Le Monde are these:

Ensemble (Macron's party & allies, centre-right) : 246 (on 38.6 % of the votes)
Nupes (left and centre-left) : 142 (on 32.6 % of the votes)
RN & allies (far right): 91 (on 17.3%)
LR & allies (right and centre-right): 64 (on 7.3%)
Misc. left & centre-left : 13
Misc. right & centre-right : 9
Others : 12

It's good to see Macron won't have a compliant, rubber-stamp National Assembly for the next five years. Our Parliament is now a little more representative of the diversity of views in the country, a little more democratic, and the government will need to work with the people's representatives instead of remaining autocratic.

The trivialisation and acceptation of the far right is very, very worrying, though.

[Old Tyrannia]

Le Monde has more precise results, as the Ministry of the Interior (whose numbers have been echoed by most media) labelled as "other" several MPs for overseas départements and territories who are in fact associated with the NUPES. The full results published by Le Monde are these:

Ensemble (Macron's party & allies, centre-right) : 246 (on 38.6 % of the votes)
Nupes (left and centre-left) : 142 (on 32.6 % of the votes)
RN & allies (far right): 91 (on 17.3%)
LR & allies (right and centre-right): 64 (on 7.3%)
Misc. left & centre-left : 13
Misc. right & centre-right : 9
Others : 12

It's good to see Macron won't have a compliant, rubber-stamp National Assembly for the next five years. Our Parliament is now a little more representative of the diversity of views in the country, a little more democratic, and the government will need to work with the people's representatives instead of remaining autocratic.

The trivialisation and acceptation of the far right is very, very worrying, though.

"It's good that Parliament represents the diversity of views in the country, except when it represents the views I don't like."

[Ariddia]

"It's good that Parliament represents the diversity of views in the country, except when it represents the views I don't like."

That's not what I said, and not what I think.

It's easy to understand what I wrote. My statement that it is good to gave a parliament more representative of the views of citizens is not incompatible with my concern that so many people chose to vote for the far right.

Many of us here in France remember what the far right is, where it comes from, and what its members still are. It can try to soften and sugarcoat its image as much as it wants: It's still the far right, with everything that that implies.