There has been an obvious lack of posts on this site for some time now.  I would like to be able to say that the reason for this is the amount of time I have spent following the build up to yesterday’s first round presidential election, but then that would not be entirely true.  With the media hype, maybe you would think it was impossible not to be aware of the daily twists and turns of the presidential polemic. In fact, over the last couple of weeks, this has not been the case for me partly, I think, for the following reasons.

 

Firstly, the equal coverage of each candidate, enforced on the media by law, had a strangely distorting effect.  For example, in the mornings when I was most likely to listen to the radio, I had all the information I needed about where the most minor of candidates had taken their soap boxes, but add this up over twelve candidates and it made for a lot of noise and not a lot of perspective.  Also, in order for it to be equal, it was difficult to comment about one candidate’s policies without having to list the other twelve’s.  I think that this equal coverage has many merits.  It gives the smaller candidates a platform, and without which I am sure the success of Olivier Bescanenot (almost 1.8 million votes in the first round), an exciting voice for the future, would be diminished.

 

The second phenomenon is that at work no one talks about the elections, or if they do, they only talk about who they are not going to vote for.  Interestingly, more than one developer has pointed out the terrible consequences for the construction of large-scale projects if Sarko doesn’t get in.  A little short-sighted perhaps if they actually want find anyone to build their projects…  Outside work, it is a similar story.  North-eastern Paris is not exactly a stronghold of the right.  In the bars where I hang out there is little chance of finding a Sarko supporter.  That said, until the eve of the first round, I was yet to encounter anyone who was really behind Ségolène (interestingly, Ségolène gets corrected to semolina on my computer).  There was still fear of a repeat of 2002 when the left was divided, leaving a rightwing and an ultra rightwing candidate to choose from in the second round.  And so, despite their dislike, or in some cases loathing of her, she was quite likely to get their vote, and no wanted to talk about it because the choice was rather depressing.

 

Last night, in a vegetarian thai restaurant (with a tantalizing menu that deserves more attention from me) a friend rushed in who had just returned from the polling station where she had been helping with the count.  More than 50% of the 11th Arrondissement had voted Sego.  Apart from the three guys I met at party on the eve of the election – the first Sego ‘militants’ I had encountered in a social context – I am sure that plenty of those votes were cast with gritted teeth.

 

And so onto the second round… Which way will centrist bronze medallist Bayrou’s 18% share of the vote go?  Will enough transfer to the Sego camp for her to pull through?  One thing is for sure: any shame at voting Sego – the tactical vote to some – has past with the first round.  I am sure that those in the quartier that gritted their teeth in the first round can unclench their jaws in the second.  There is no-longer a choice to make, and in anycase they won’t be voting for Ségolène, they will be not voting for Sarko…