“Old” politics to dominate TV and radio airtime in French general election campaign

It’s election time - again - in France.

Just a few weeks after the two rounds to choose the country’s president (done and dusted - Emmanuel Macron, in case you weren’t paying attention), the French totter off to the polls again.

Not once, but twice (very French) in the space of eight days…June 11 and (if there’s no 50 per cent plus majority in a constituency) June 18.

This time around it’ll be to elect a new lower chamber, the Assemblée nationale (national assembly), with Macron’s (rebranded party) La République en marche (LREM) favourites, among the pollsters, to assure him and his newly-appointed government a majority.

Assemblée nationale (screenshot)

But with campaigning for the 577 seats underway, there’s something of an anomaly in the allocation of time for (don’t yawn) party political broadcasts.

The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel, or CSA, is the body that regulates TV and radio in France and gets to decide how much airtime each particular party is allowed.

And that decision (made even more complicated in this explanation…in French) is based primarily on the size of each party or group’s representation in the current national assembly.

So, even though the second round of the presidential election was fought out between Macron and the far right Front National’s (FN) candidate, Marine Le Pen, it’s the two main parties in the “old” parliament who stand to gain most time for their campaign clips.

The Socialist party (at around six per cent in the polls) will have a full two-hours worth of airtime.

Meanwhile Les Républicans (19 per cent in the latest surveys) one hour and 44 minutes. That’ll be bolstered somewhat by their centre-right “partners”  Union des démocrates et indépendants (Union of Democrats and Independents, UDI) 22 minutes.

Politics as usual then with, if you so choose to interpret the opinion polls, most of the electorate more concerned to hear what those parties that won’t have very much airtime have to say.

Just look at the figures…or rather the disparity.

The centrist LREM - leading the polls with 32 per cent will get 12 minutes.

The far right FN - at around 19 per cent in the polls will also get 12 minutes.

And the far left La France insoumise - currently at 15 per cent…12 minutes.

French presidential election - leading candidates take to stage for marathon TV debate

So the first live TV broadcast presidential debate is over.

Only the “Big Five” or leading candidates were invited by TF1/LCI to take part; those ranking at more than 10 per cent in the opinion polls.

The leading candidates
screenshot

It was  a move that prompted Nicolas Dupont-Aignan - one of the “little candidates” (there are six of them - yes a grand total of 11 aiming for the highest office in the Land) to stomp off in a huff during a television interview during a news broadcast over the weekend.

So how did the candidates perform?

Well, as the BBC’s Hugh Schofield rightly points out, trying to predict the winner of any presidential debate is pretty much “a mug’s game”.

And although Monday night’s three-hour plus marathon might have been a first in a presidential campaign here in France (normally the debating is left to the final two before the second round) it’s probably anyone’s guess as to who actually came across as the winner.

Over nine million viewers tuned in to watch and although the “conventional wisdom” of political commentators (those who “know” best) and the independent polls taken immediately afterwards judged centrist Emmanuel Macron as the “most convincing”, it would be unwise to read too much into that.

Ultimately each candidate’s camp was putting its own political spin on the evening with each claiming to have been “satisfied”, “happy” and “confident”. Nothing new there then.

For the record though, here’s a personal view as to how they came across.

Macron probably had the most to lose and was on the receiving end of several attacks. After a ponderous start, though he held his own and refrained from falling into the traps laid down for him.

Still, he needs to find a “defining” policy which sticks in the electorate’s mind.

At the moment he appears to be caught in the Centre’s dilemma of wanting to appeal to all sides.

The far-right Front National’s Marine Le Pen was as bellicose as ever - only to be expected - and that won’t have done her any harm…among her own supporters.

But the shrugged dismissal of any criticism and an inability to come up with a response as to why she deems herself above the judiciary (only fleetingly addressed) and fa ailure to appeal outside of her own electorate will not have made her chances of widening her appeal.

Les Républicain’s François Fillon - was statesmanlike and serious (almost to the point of boring) but astonishingly reserved and restrained - almost as though he were, at times, absent. He too suffers from a difficulty of reaching out beyond his own “fans” - and oh yes, the foreign media should stop defining his candidacy as centre-right. It’s rightwing.

Benoît Hamon - the Socialist party’s candidate - was widely seen as having failed to shine. Sure, he was articulate and coherent but sometimes (too often in fact) saw his thoughts and ideas overshadowed by those of the man whose views most closely match his own - the far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Make no mistake, Mélenchon (what was it with those very pink lips?)  was and remains an orator head and shoulders above the rest, able to inject more than a modicum of cutting wit at just the right moment.

But he’s also more of a troublemaker (especially for the Socialist party) than a serious candidate to be president.

The second debate in a fortnight’s (April 4) on BFM TV will feature all 11 candidate when the likes of Dupont-Aignan, Jacques Cheminade and François Asselineau will get their chance to ensure that the electorate is even more confused afterwards than it was before with polls still showing that around 40 per cent don’t know how they’ll vote.

French presidential election 2017 - The "Big Five" and a perplexed electorate

The French presidential election is turning out to be one of the most confusing and unpredictable of recent times.

And it’s really not surprising that,  according to many of the (innumerable) polls, there are a sizeable number of French who are still unsure as to how they will vote - at least in the first round April 23.

Of course, many of the leading candidates have their hard core supporters - but none of them is guaranteed a place in the second-round head-to-head.

What follows is not a (huge sigh of relief) poll and, admittedly, far from being scientific. It’s a recap of the five main contenders (in reality there are only three) to be this country’s next president. The comments are based on observations - something more than just a chat to the taxi driver on the way from the airport after being parachuted in to a country - from someone who lives among the French and hears their fears, confusion as to what might or might not happen in this year’s presidential elections.

The "Big Five" French presidential hopefuls: Marine Le Pen, François Fillon, Emmanuel Macron, Benoît Hamon and Jean-Luc Mélenchon (collage of YouTube screenshots)

Perhaps the best-placed (again according to those omnipresent polls) to make it through the May 7 run-off is the far-right Front National’s (FN) Marine Le Pen.

Along with her faithful lieutenants (such as Florian Philippot), Le Pen has made a pretty good job of what the media calls “dédiabolisation” or “de-demonising” the party in terms of its image: giving it a veneer  of respectability, positioning itself as an anti-system alternative to “politics as usual” and broadening its electoral appeal.

In essence though, for all its nationalist and populist bluster about how it would do things differently if in power, the party would still be at the mercy of a political and institutional system (and all its inherent flaws and self—serving perks).  The FN also remains fiercely anti-immigration (a sugar-coated way of saying xenophobic and anti-Islam) implausible on economic policy and typically protectionist - although given recent global events such as Brexit and The Donald’s election in the United States, that might well be seen as an attribute.

The party is also a peculiarly “family business”.  Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie, was its founder, her partner, Louis Aliot, is one of its vice presidents and her niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, one of its two members in the National Assembly.

The right wing (although the party still insists on portraying itself as representing the Right/Centre-right) Les Républicains’ François Fillon was for many months the political pundits favourite to face Le Pen in the second round.

His overwhelming victory in the party’s November 2016’s primary provided him with a virtual “boulevard” to the Elysée: well that was the proverbial common wisdom. He would make it through to the second round and, even though he might have a hard time convincing those who had voted for leftwing parties in the first round, there was no way they would allow a Le Pen victory. In much the same way as Jacques Chirac had sealed success against Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2002, so Fillon would be assured of doing (but less emphatically) in 2017.

But then it all well pear-shaped. The man who had always taken the moral high ground and presented himself as almost “whiter than white” found himself embroiled in “the Penelope gate” fiasco, suspicions that his Welsh-born wife and two of his children had earned hundreds of thousands of euros for “fake jobs” as his parliamentary assistants.

“If a presidential candidate is indicted - no matter for what reason - he (or she) cannot possibly maintain the trust of the electorate and must withdraw from the race” of his earlier campaigning became “I have become the victim of a media witch hunt and “I’m going to see this out to the very end”. A neat reversal of what he had said just months earlier. So much for consistency and integrity in French politics.

And then there’s Emmanuel Macron. His very strengths could also prove to be his weakness. He’s young (38) - perhaps too young for many to have that much needed gravitas of a Statesman. He not politically bound, even though he served as advisor and economics minister under the current president François Hollande, a man he is accused as having “stabbed in the back”. He has never stood for elected office before and his programme - yes he has one at last - for the longest time seemed vague: exciting but confusing - that mix of Centrist ideas that lack ideology (and dogma) and try to appeal to everyone and anyone (apart from the extremes).

Criticised by the Right as representing “Hollande redux” - and few French want a repeat performance of the last five years - and by the Left as not being Socialist enough, Macron has nevertheless managed to garner support from across the political spectrum with his movement “En marche” (On the move) - yes only the most confident (or arrogant) of people could give his political movement his own initials.

The media darling and golden boy of French politics has surprised many. His movement has gathered momentum but he lacks the structure of a political machine behind him. Sure, he could beat Le Pen if he makes it through the second round, but the transitory nature of his support - that so-called Centre - could also be his undoing.

So, what is the Socialist party up to? Well, it’s not so much fighting a presidential race as defining its own future as a party. In its primary it chose Benoît Hamon as the candidate. For many he’s “too Socialist”, too Utopian, offering the French what they want (to hear): no belt-tightening economic reforms (but no real guaranteed progress either). In fact more of the same as the country entrenches itself deeper in the beliefs of the past.

And Hamon is not drawing in the big crowds as he had hoped. The former rebel of yesteryear who resigned as Hollande’s education minister after just a few months in the job (what staying power) now finds himself confronted with his own rebels - hard-hitting party bigwigs who feel he is leading the lot of them into political oblivion and are (more than) tempted to throw their weight behind Macron. Result? Hamon has had to blow hot and cold on some of his core ideas such as universal suffrage.

Finally among those that really matter (and apologies for any other candidates who might obtain the necessary signatures to enable them to stand) there’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

If only this former Socialist party member could pull his act together and get over himself to join forces with Hamon, the Left might actually have some say in determining the outcome of the 2017 presidential elections.

But no, the angry old bloke of French politics (who has admittedly calmed down a fair deal since his campaign managers discovered social media) has an ideological path that doesn’t sit well with many inside the Socialist party. Oh yes - and an ego.

You see, and this is actually unusual in French politics - or any politics come to that, Mélanchon actually has (don’t say this too loud) principles. Employment rights, welfare programmes and a real redistribution of wealth to tackle existing socioeconomic inequalities actually mean something to him. And oh yes, he’s very anti-EU.

No wonder the French are perplexed. There’s no clear “leader” to guide the country over the next five years. Le Pen might well score highly in the first round but there’s still (hopefully) - at least on the Left - enough French who would do the “right thing” and vote tactically to keep her from winning the run-off.

Should she face Macron, it would be easier for those - Left and Right of the political spectrum - to swallow their pride and help the young pretender into office…no matter what their qualms might be about his leadership qualities.

But Fillon versus Le Pen casts quite a different picture. Distasteful Right against even more distasteful Far Right…and some might just be tempted to let the latter win simply by abstaining.

And that most unlikely combination of Macron against Fillon…heck, that’s just introducing another unfathomable element into the equation.

French politicians and their moments of mendacity - it's all the media's fault

Don't you just love (French) politicians. They're all so honest and sincere, fiercely upstanding in their efforts to represent and serve those who've elected them.

Furthermore, they refuse outright to deceive the public, especially when they're in front of a camera.

What you see or hear when they pop up on your TV screens (and boy, do they pop up) is the Coca Cola "Real Thing", the genuine article.

Cue corny commercial...



Er "Non, mais allô quoi" to quote one of the great French thinkers of our time.

If only.

But it's not their fault at all.

When politicians are caught out apparently trying to use the very same media of which they're often so critical to swing public opinion in their direction they're not to blame.

Rather, it's all the responsibility of the dreaded and dreadful media.

This past week there have been two examples in France which illustrate perfectly just how (some) politicians think the media really is out to "get" them.

First up there was Paul-Marie Coûteaux, founder and president of the Souveraineté, indépendance et libertés (SIEL) movement which has close ties to the far-right Front National (FN).

Paul-Marie Coûteaux (screenshot France 3 debate, May 2013

Indeed Coûteaux, a former member of the European parliament, campaigned for the FN's, Marine Le Pen, in the 2012 French presidential elections and he has joined forces with the her to help recruit new members especially those who might be disillusioned with the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP).

He was also the subject of a report on last weekend's edition of the weekly news magazine  "Le Supplément" on Canal +.

Accompanied by a reporter and a camera team, Coûteaux went off at one point for a working breakfast in Brest where he claimed afterwards he had secured the promise of membership from a prominent local political figure who had been active in the 90s and his wife - both of whom had previously backed the UMP.

Getting back into his car to return to Paris, Coûteaux seemed to forget that he was still hooked up to the microphone  and smugly told his fellow passengers that he had "fooled the journalist by pretending that he had managed to recruit two new high profile members".

There had, as the programme pointed out, been no meeting with former UMP members interested in joining the FN, and Coûteaux had made the whole thing up.

An unrepentant Coûteaux spoke out in defence of his of er...stretching of the truth saying that Canal + had been "out to trap him, that's what the channel was good at and it was all part of (the media) transforming politics into a circus."

http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2013/12/02/01002-20131202ARTFIG00340-fn-piege-sur-canal-couteaux-s-explique-sur-son-mensonge.php

Le Supplément du 01/12/13 - Part.1  Avec Florian Philippot

Of course.

The media was and is to blame for politicians not sticking with the truth and that's the line Le Pen took when she was asked for her reaction.

"I know Paul-Marie and he always tries to do his best," she said.

"He believes he can never do enough and he wanted to prove how much he could do because there were cameras around," she continued.

"And you know, the presence of a camera sometimes makes you say the craziest thing."

Politicians and sincerity 1 - the media 0

Ah yes those cameras. Not only do they apparently make politicians say something that isn't necessarily accurate, they can also make them do what they don't want to.

Just ask - and here for the sake of balance is the second example of how the media is responsible for the lies politicians don't tell -  Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Now Mélenchon probably needs as much of an introduction as (Marine) Le Pen.

During his years in politics the former Socialist party member has been a government minister, a senator, a member of the European parliament and a French presidential candidate.

Right now he's co-president of the Parti de Gauche, (Left party, PG) and all round pain in the backside of (among others) the French president François Hollande.

When there's a demonstration to be led against government policy especially in the fields of social and economic reform, you can bet your bottom centime that somewhere in the crowd (and usually at the head of it) you'll find Mélenchon.

He also has a love-to-hate relationship with the media.

Last weekend Mélenchon was living up to he reputation as a pain in the gluteus maximus with a rally in Paris against "the injustices of tax increases" (well nobody likes having to pay more taxes now, do they?) and, ahead of the official demo, was interviewed "live" by Claire Chazal on TF1's lunchtime news.

And there he stood in front of what appeared to be hundreds of flag-waving supporters, a "fact" that Chazal pointed out when introducing him.

"I just want to correct you Claire," he said. "This is a movement against the tax increases not just supported by my party but by a number of parties from the left of the political spectrum as well as the unions ," he added, seeming to forget momentarily the other mistake Chazal had made and the impression viewers might have had from the camera angle - namely that there was indeed a mass of people behind him.

 

Mélenchon : "La taxe, un impôt du pauvre pour les riches" sur WAT.tv 

Because you see, Stefan de Vries, a correspondent in France for the Dutch channel RTL and a contributor to both France 24 and La Croix, just happened to live across from where the interview was taking place and took a photo of the scene - something TF1 viewers didn't see.

He posted it on the Net and it quickly entered the Twittersphere accompanied by claims that TF1 and Mélenchon had been in cahoots to fool viewers.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon interview TF1 - street scene from Twitter

Mélenchon saw red (naturally), choosing his often preferred method of defence by going on the attack and writing on his blog that he had been asked to take part in what he considered to be a ridiculous interview before the rally began.

"It was just more interesting to have some supporters around rather than appearing in an empty street," he wrote, adding that a member of his party and not the so-called "journalist" had actually taken a photo and posted it on Twitter.

And he didn't stop there, laying into Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) - rant rant rant, Europe 1 - rant rant rant, journalists in general - rant rant rant, the media - rant rant rant, the government - rant rant rant and rant rant rant...

Why choose a dozen or so words when several hundred will do?

In short, Mélenchon considered that he wasn't to blame for anything and it was all the fault of (paraphrasing) the media conspiring with the government to discredit him.

It must be exhausting being so angry with everyone all the time.

Politicians and sincerity 2 - the media 0

Another week in French politics with la rentrée, crystal balls and, of course, Manuel Valls

Government ministers returned to work this week refreshed from their short break and intent on cracking on with the business of running the country...in 2025.

They all sat down and decided to cope with the problems currently facing France by gazing into their collective crystal ball to predict the rosiest of futures with "full employment, plenty of cheap housing, a new Industrial Revolution and Police 3.0."

Do what?

Yes apparently "anyone who wants a job will be able to get one," according to the finance minister Pierre Moscovici. And the country will have "regained its fiscal sovereignty."

Oh yes. And France will be officially renamed "Cloud Cuckoo Land".

Eat your heart out, Émile Coué!

Back to reality though and the week started off with a wannabe prime minister, Claude Bartolone, and a wannabe president Arnaud Montebourg (presumably one of the architects of that 2025 Industrial Revolution) holding hands (metaphorically speaking, you understand) unified for la Fête de la Rose de Frangy-en-Bresse.

It was all very casual. A no-tie, open-collar, friendly (well, as close as it gets in politics) sort of affair to show how 'unified" they both were; the president of the National Assembly and
the minister of industrial renewal.

Smile for the camera guys!

Over at the centre-right UMP (renamed until further notice Union pour un mouvement pauvre), another wannabe leader was staking his claim.

Laurent Wauquiez followed...er...in his own footsteps (or the tradition of the former Socialist president François Mitterrand who used to make an annual ascent of the roche de Solutré) by taking his once-a-year hike up mont Mézenc.

What is it with politicians and hills?

Surrounded by his personal fan club from the like-minded "droite sociale",  Wauquiez was apparently showing what a free-thinking, independent kind of politician he was...well at least until it becomes necessary to foster alliances with the forces of darkness from another part of the UMP.

Meanwhile yet another wannabe - prime minister, president and master of the universe - and darling of the right, the interior minister Manuel Valls, "shocked" some in his own (Socialist - and you might need to be reminded of that now and then) party with statements that seemed...well, a little off message.

France faces two major challenges in ensuring how people here can all live together happily, according to the interior minister.

Number One - the birth rate among those of African origin in France would "force a rethink of our immigration policy and the issue of family reunification would have to be reviewed."

And Number Two - to show that "Islam was compatible with democracy."

Nabilla!

"Non, mais allô quoi?" to quote one of the great French thinkers of our time.

Weren't those exactly the sort of remarks Jean-Luc Mélenchon had been talking about during his interview with le Journal du Dimanche when he said, "Valls had been contaminated by the (thinking of the far-right) Front National"?

All right, so as the self-appointed leader (or at least one of them) of one of France's far-left parties, Mélenchon might get a heck of a kick out of putting the proverbial boot into his former Socialist party colleagues, but he has a point, hasn't he?

While on the subject of Valls - after all there was, and is, no getting away from him - the interior minister was quick to react to the latest deaths in Marseille, a city that has "long grappled with high crime rates that have increasingly become more violent over the years."

It was during Valls' appearance on BFM TV on Tuesday morning to explain what approach the government would be taking in Marseille, that the...er..."real" prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, got wind that the "wannabe" one (Valls) would be heading off to the southern French city to "sort things out" (paraphrasing).

Manuel Valls (screenshot BFMTV August 20, 2013)

Ayrault, always a man of action, reacted promptly, putting Valls firmly in his place and swooping on Marseille himself surrounded by five - yes count them - ministers: Valls (that'll learn yer sonny), Christine Taubira (justice), Marisol Touraine (social affairs), Cécile Duflot (housing) and Marie-Arlette Carlotti (junior minister for the disabled and from Marseille herself).

And just to show how much in charge he was, Ayrault annouced exactly what Valls had been planning to say - measures to beef up of the police presence in the city.

Way to go, M Ayrault!



Finally - skipping over the first cabinet meeting and the proposed reform of the status of the auto-entrepreneur, the handling of which seems to epitomise the government's clarity and coherence on the subject, no political rentrée would be complete without yet another failed attempt at a comeback by the country's first lady of politics.

In her capacity as president of the region Poitou-Charentes, Ségolène Royal had planned a get-together lunch and a press conference for other Socialist party regional presidents as a "prelude" to the traditional annual meeting of party activists the last weekend of August in the town of La Rochelle.

Only it has been cancelled  because of lack of interest or, as Royal tweeted, "postponed by several days to prepare for the September 11 meeting at the Matignon (the prime minister's official residence)."

La Rochelle, you might remember, was the scene of Royal's ignominious defeat to fellow party member Olivier Falorni in last year's parliamentary elections.

And that, dear reader, is a round up of some of this week's political stories making the news here in France.

Bon week-end.

An alliance between the UMP and Front National - a sign of things to come?

Next year the French - and many foreign residents registered in France, mainly EU citizens - will have the chance to go to the polls here in the country's municipal elections.

They'll be choosing the composition of local councils and, as a consequence, who'll be their mayor for the next six years.

Even though turnout might not be as high as it traditionally is for presidential and parliamentary elections, the chances are that (going on past results) a fair number of people will be exercising their democratic right at the ballot boxes.

And that inevitably means the results will be perceived by many as a sort of mid-term test for the French president, François Hollande, the government and the Socialist party.

That's not all of course. The performance of the other parties will also be scrutinised.

Will the opposition centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a popular movement, UMP) finally be able to smooth over its internal differences and actually "win" an election?

How will the far-right Front National (FN) fare under its leader Marine Le Pen?

Will Jean-Luc Mélanchon's 180,000-strong (his figures - 30,000 according to the police) May 5 demonstration gather momentum to become a ballot box protest vote?

Questions, questions, questions.

Doubtless many will be asked and answered in different ways before, during and after the elections depending on the political spin.

One thing's for sure, with over 36,000 mayors to be elected up and down the country, party machines will have a tough job ensuring local activists toe the line.

That's already happening, with the UMP being forced to suspend one of its members for contravening party policy.

Arnaud Cléré
(screenshot France 3 television)

Arnaud Cléré is, or rather was until Monday, a member of the party in the town of Gamaches in the northern département of Somme.

He doesn't actually hold elected office, but wants to. And last week he announced he would be standing in next year's local elections on a list which also contained members of the FN.

It seems that for the 34-year-old, the proverbial "end justifies the means" - winning at any cost.

"It's all about strategy," he said.

"Gamaches has been in the hands of the communists or socialists for the past 30 years," he continued.

"There's no shame in an alliance with the FN...especially if it helps bring the right to power."

Not surprisingly perhaps Cléré's membership of the UMP has been suspended in line with party policy which the UMP leader Jean-François Copé reiterated in a recent speech in Nice insisting that the Front National was "an extremist party" and there would be "no alliance with that party".

But given the current political, economic and social climate in France, does anyone out there have the sense that Cléré's "political and tactical error" as it was decribed by UMP party officials, might be perceived as something else and instead mark a sign of things to come?

The political numbers game - don't always believe what you see

As well as being a public holiday, May Day is the time for marching in France, and last Wednesday was no different.

Er...perhaps that needs to be reworded as any time seems good for the French to take to the streets.

If you need proof of that, just look at this past weekend.

First up, 35,000 (if you believe the organisers) or 15,000 (according to the police) took to the streets of Paris in "Le Manif Pour Tous" - yet another demonstration by those opposed to the law allowing same-sex marriage and adoption which was passed by parliament last month and is currently awaiting the approval of the Conseil Constitutionnel (Constitutional Council).

And then there was Jean-Luc Mélanchon and his 180,000 supporters (his figures) or 30,000 (according to the police) gathered in the capital, campaigning against austerity and calling for "a clean up of French politics and the creation of a new and improved France in the form of a 6th Republic."

Yes, the police were busy - but quite how busy, is open to question.

Anyway, back to May Day when, as tradition has it, trade unions take the lead in celebrating workers' rights (and protesting against government policy - this time around, austerity) in demonstrations throughout the country - 160,000 (organisers) or 97,300 police.

Once again, it's hard to get an exact picture.

But thankfully we've got the media to inform and provide those images that help give an accurate impression, haven't we?

Er...haven't we?

Well, that depends.

Take the case, for example, of another traditional rally in Paris on May 1, that of the far right (or economically protectionist, socially conservative nationalist party as Wikipedia now describes it) Front National, when Joan of Arc was inevitably evoked as a symbol of pride and patriotism, and the party's leader, Marine Le Pen delivered an address to the assembled throng.

Front National May Day rally, Paris
(screenshot BFM TV)

Once again there was a notable difference between the figures quoted by the organisers (15,000) and the police (6,000) who assembled to hear the woman who would, according to a (nonsensical) poll released at the end of April make it through to a second-round run-off (against Nicolas Sarkozy) if "the presidential elections were held tomorrow".

If you had been watching the three generations of Le Pen - Jean-Marie, Marine and Marion - leading the flag-waving supporters, you might well have had the impression that the far right march to power is inevitable and unstoppable because the camera doesn't lie - does it?

But wait.

Guess who was providing the footage used by many of the all-news channels in France covering the march?

Political journalist Nicolas Domenach revealed all on last Friday's lunchtime news magazine "Nouvelle Edition" on Canal + with a warning to be wary of what you believe you're seeing - it was the Front National itself, with only i>Télé "remembering" to inform viewers of that fact.

Have all those figures done your head in?

Time then perhaps for some musical respite.

Evian's "Water babies" - or are they?

It can't be easy trying to sell something that, when all's said and done, most of us (at least here in France) can all get from a tap.

But French mineral water companies seem to have a knack for being inventive.

Remember a couple of years ago the Contrex (all right, so the company is now a branch of the Swiss group Nestlé, but the product remains French) campaign featuring a pink neon stripper?

Contrex commercial (screenshot from YouTube clip)

It was a great way to make you sit up and take notice every time it appeared on the box.

Contrex has recently followed that up with a similarly amusing exercise-themed approach - this time featuring scantily clad "real firemen".

Contrex commercial (screenshot from YouTube clip)

And then of course there are the 2009 "Evian babies" - something of a phenomenon in the advertising world apparently, notching up  over 67 million views on YouTube (again you can see it here if you wish) and holding true to the company's premise that, "This baby is a symbol of you and how you feel when you experience Evian, and a symbol of the purity of our water."

No comment on the marketing speak!

At least the ad' was original and entertaining, and that's probably why the company has decided to stick with what works in terms of getting its product noticed with its new Baby&Me commercial.

In short, it features a number of adults catching reflections of baby-like versions of themselves in a shop window and breaking into a moment of delirious dance.

Evian "Baby&Me" (screenshot from YouTube clip)

With 40 million views in just over a week, it has already gone viral and there's no doubting that it's a clever ad'...and original too, don't you think?



Except, hang about.

In terms of concept, if not execution, doesn't Evian's new commercial look just a little similar to one that was released in 2012 by the Tunisian mineral water company Safia?

Take a look at both of them and see what you think.

Maybe not so "creative" and "original" after all.

Shame.



As an extra for those of you who follow and "enjoy" French politics, here's a parody version produced by Canal + "La Nouvelle Edition" and featuring François Hollande, Ségolène Royal, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Jean-Louis Borloo, Nadine Morano and Christine Boutin.

Enjoy!

La Nouvelle Edition du 26/04 - Pub Evian

François Hollande, back from hols and time for work - finally

The French president François Hollande is back from his summer break all bronzed and ready to get cracking with affairs of state.

Er. Hello? Isn't there something wrong with that?

François Hollande and Valérie Trierweiler  - end of summer hols. Nice tan (screenshot Var Matin)

Unemployment, economic recession, the problems in the Eurozone, Syria - all trifling concerns of government which could be put on hold, it would appear, while Hollande, sunned himself in the south of France for three weeks.

Oops, 18 days to be precise. Mustn't exaggerate now.

Those are points driven home not only in Tuesday's edition of Libération with a headline that reads as though it's taken straight from Le Figaro "L'été très moyen de françois Hollande", but also by a piece in this week's Le Point by Hervé Gattegno.

"Where else would a 'normal' employee begin a job at the beginning of May and be automatically entitled to three weeks holiday in August," asks Gattegno in his piece entitled "Hollande was on holiday for too long."

Gattegno surely has a point.

Sure he's now calling his ministers in and having detailed head-to-heads with them about how to tackle the recession (what recession?), economic hardship at home and throughout Europe, what to do about Syria, the Roma, violence and security in France and the list goes on.

But shouldn't he have been doing exactly that - or at have least given the appearance of doing so - already?

In an interview with Le Journal de Dimanche last weekend, Jean-Luc Mélenchon characterised (or rather caricatured) Hollande's first 100 days in office as "100 days of almost nothing."

Gattegno says Mélenchon was, in his usual style, exaggerating but there's also the uncomfortable feeling - even among those to the Left - that there might be some substance in what he says, and a potential sign of things not to come.

The article in Libération, a paper that is not shy in its support of the Socialist party, is surely evidence in itself that some on the Left are questioning Hollande's tactics - or lack thereof.

Hollande might want to be demonstrating that he's not as omnipresent as his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, but isn't he taking delegation perhaps a little too far and appearing almost absent?

If he carries on at this rate his five year mandate will come to resemble those of Jacques Chirac's second term in office - a time when French politics stood still while the world moved on.

Reasons not to stifle a yawn after the first round of the French parliamentary elections

Well that was an interesting weekend politically-speaking after the French went to the polls in the first round of the parliamentary elections, wasn't it?

No?

Oh all right then - predictable and tedious perhaps although it threw up a few fascinating results here and there.

And let's face it, TV and radio did their best to make a show of it, clearing their schedules and inviting all the usual suspects to comment and analyse.

Perhaps it wasn't quite the "triumph" for the Socialist party as suggested by an early headline on the BBC (thankfully it was changed to reflect better the actual outcome with a more measured "Socialists and allies win first round") but it was at least a promise of a reasonable working majority - either with or without Leftist partners after the second round of voting next Sunday.

In reality the biggest winner on the day was, as pointed out by many political pundits, the abstention rate.

Only 57.23 per cent of the country's 46 million voters turned out to cast their ballots. Or put another way, 42.77 per cent couldn't be bothered - a record for the fifth republic.

And although it might not seem so important, with France's complicated process of calculating which candidates can make it through to the second round, a number of them didn't make the required cut - even though at first sight they scored pretty high on the day.

Most of the government ministers who took the risk of standing - remember they didn't have to, but if they did and lost then they would be out on their ears - did pretty well.

Six of the 25 who stood were elected in the first round, among them big hitters prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and foreign minister Laurent Fabius.

A clutch of others should have no problem in the second-round run off including those considered to have taken the biggest risk: the minister of agriculture Stéphane Le Foll, and the culture minister, Aurélie Filippetti.

There could be one casualty after the second round though, in the shape of the minister for the disabled, Marie-Arlette Carlotti.

Some "personalities" from across the political spectrum came a cropper, most notably perhaps the former junior minister for human rights and later when that post was scrapped,  junior minister for sport, Rama Yade.

She didn't make it through to the second round in the constituency in which she was standing in the suburbs of Paris.

Yade, who was one of the three high-profile ethnic minority figures in Nicolas Sarkozy's first government now finds herself in a political wilderness of sorts, but at 36 is young and certainly talented enough to bounce back quickly.

The same cannot be said for François Bayrou. The leader of the Centrist party Mouvement démocrate (MoDem) has been a member of parliament for "his" Pyrénées-Atlantiques constituency (described as his "fiefdom" - so very typical of French politics) for donkeys years (well since 1988, when it was created).

But the multi-presidential candidate (three times so far) is in serious danger of losing out to the Socialist party's Nathalie Chabanne in the second round. Clearly Bayrou's gesture of openly declaring he would vote for François Hollande in the presidential run-off against Sarkozy is having its impact - and not in the way Bayrou would want.

And then there's Seggers - or Ségolène Royal if you wish - parachuted into a safe seat only to find herself up against another (more local) Socialist, Olivier Falorni.

He ignored party instructions not to stand and was summarily suspended. But he finished just behind Seggers in the first round, is continuing his prolonged fit of pique (in protest at the practice of candidates being parachuted) and could well cost Royal a seat.

The Socialist party's "Big Guns" including - figure this - Martine Aubrey - are rallying behind Seggers, proving there's nowt so peculiar or erratic as a politician.

It's a similar story for former interior minister Claude Guéant.

He too has been parachuted into a safe seat - this time in the Paris suburbs - for the centre-right Union pour un mouvement populaire (Union for a popular movement, UMP).

Just like Seggers, Guéant finds himself up against someone (Thierry Solère) from his own party who is locally-based and who's refusing to follow orders.

Finally in this briefest of brief looks (which is decidedly longer than intended) there was the much-publicised but ultimately flat duel between the two extremes in a constituency in the north of France: far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon taking on far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

The two had of course traded verbal punches - or not, as one refused to debate directly with the other - in this year's presidential campaign for which they were both candidates.

On Sunday, Mélenchon failed to make it through to the second round, blaming everyone but himself in the process while Le Pen finished first and is still in with a shout (as far as she's concerned) of winning the seat.



Should she pull it off, she might not be the only member of the Front National - or the only Le Pen come to that - in the new parliament.

Gilbert Collard in one of the constituencies in the département of Gard in southern France, is well-placed to win his seat, especially if his UMP opponent, Etienne Mourrut pulls out of the three-way race (with the Socialist party's Katy Guyot).

Mourrut is apparently "hesitating".

Marion Maréchal-Le Pen (screenshot France 2 news)

No hesitation though for the Socialist party in one of the constituencies in the neighbouring département of Vaucluse.

It has withdrawn its candidate from the second round to allow the UMP contender to go head-to-head with a certain Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, yes the 22-year-old niece of Marine and granddaughter of Jean-Marie.

Maybe the most interesting outcome of the first round though is the possibility that the Front National stands a real chance of winning seats.

There might not be nearly as many as there were in 1986 when the party won 35 seats under the (thankfully) short-lived system of proportional representation introduced (for very political reasons of course) for the parliamentary elections by the then-president François Mitterrand.

But winning a handful of seats under the French system of first past the post would give the Front National the political credibility it craves and demands.

Little wonder then that Le Pen (Marine that is) is targeting some high profile UMP candidates by urging FN voters to "go Socialist" in a manner of speaking.

Perhaps though an event in that very constituency where  Mélenchon and Le Pen did battle last weekend best reflects the first round results or at least how many French might feel about them.

It was the fate of one of the other candidates - there were 14 of them - standing in that constituency, Daniel Cucchiaro.

An independent ecologist (always a bad sign),  Cucchiaro finished last; no shame in that as someone has to.

It was the style in which he did it though - winning zero per cent of ballots cast because...well...nobody had voted for him.

Political parachuting – a French electoral tradition

The French will get to go the polls yet again – some of them twice -  in little under a month in parliamentary elections which could determine how much of a mandate the newly-elected president François Hollande will realistically have in pursuing his declared policies.

After all let’s not forget just how close the May 6 presidential run-off with Nicolas Sarkozy was: just over 1.1 million votes separated the two men and there were of course over two million blank votes.

Still a win is a win and Sarkozy has had praise heaped upon him for the dignified manner in which he has handled defeat.

Time then for the political parties to “tourner la page” as the French seem so fond of saying, and lock horns for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

France needs a proper opposition able to counterbalance the power of the Socialist party at local, regional, Senate and now presidential levels, runs the thinking behind the strategy of the centre-right Union pour un mouvement populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party.

It wants to show that the choice of Hollande was the wrong one as his policies “threaten the sovereignty and independence of the country.”

Meanwhile the Socialists want the French to endorse their choice of Hollande with a strong showing for the party in the parliamentary elections.

All well and good – a campaign fought on issues and ideological differences.

Sounds great doesn’t it.

Except that ugly tradition of parachuting candidates into chosen constituencies threatens to make its usual mockery of the political process and take up more than its fair share of media time over the coming weeks.

First up of course there’s  Jean-Luc Mélenchon, fresh from his presidential first-round 11 per cent “triumph” and puffed up ego.

He seems to have conveniently forgotten that he’s an elected member of the European parliament for the southwest of France and has now turned his attention to a seat in the National Assembly.

And it’s not just any seat. It’s one at the other end of the country in Hénin-Beaumont  in the northern département of Pas-de-Calais: one also being contested by the Front National’s Marine Le Pen.

Far Left versus Far Right – a clash of the Titans.

“I’m standing here because there’s a battle of national and international significance,” he announced on Saturday, well aware how the decision will play with Le Pen and the French media.

He’s a wily politician.

But Mélenchon isn’t alone.

The UMP has (at least) two high-ranking members who are being given a helping hand by the party in their future aspirations.

Sarkozy’s prime minister throughout his five years in office, François Fillon reportedly has his eye on a future run for Mayor of Paris. For that of course he needs to have a base in the capital.

Little matter that he already has a parliamentary seat in the western département of Sarthe, one he has held since 1981. In June Fillon will be standing for a sure-thing in the seventh arrondissement in Paris.

And then there’s Henri  Guaino, Sarkozy’s right hand man and advisor at the Elysée for the past five years. He wants to continue his career in parliament and the UMP has decided to allow him to contest another safe seat  in the département of Yvelines just outside of the capital.

Hang about though, there’s a problem as the UMP already has a declared candidate in the form of Olivier Delaporte, a mayor in one of the towns covered by the constituency, and he’s more than miffed at being sidelined.

So much so that Delaporte is threatening to run against Guaino.

Ah yes. parliamentary elections and politics in France – most definitely an honorable affair in which the candidate out to make a political point (Mélenchon) or the one deemed most in need of an easy ride (Guaino) is allowed to do exactly that.

In the case of the latter, Just ask the Socialist party’s former culture minister and Keith Richard look-alike Jack Lang.