Politics

It looks like some sporadic rioting has erupted by some Segolene Royal supporters in the Bastille.

Reports are coming in as people bleeding from the head, rocks being thrown at police...
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/AfpNews/200705070548111178488091.46/afp
http://www.sargasso.nl/archief/2007/05/06/jusquici-tout-va-bien/&cid=0&sig2=NWLRmEeGig193G0oUrqt-A
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-1264337,00.html

As anticipated, it is Sego vs. Sarko in the 2007 French presidential race. When polled against each other, Nicolas Sarkozy retains a comfortable lead over Segoline Royal (~6%), however, when doing the math, an interesting point must be brought up that most media outlets have neglected.

Most media has taken for granted the Ultra-right voters that voted for Le Pen in the primaries will vote with Sarkozy and the left of Socialists will vote for Royal. However, Sarkozy, who comes from a largely immigrant and minority background - Hungarian on one side and half Greek Sephardi Jewish on the other will likely not resonate with Le Pen's base. On the flip side, recent immigrants and minorities, especially those worried about security and the barriers to enter entrepreneurial endeavors, will be tempted by Sarkozy's platform.

In any case, the election is not black and white and will be very interesting to follow over the next two weeks.

It looks like it will come down to the wire this year as the polls have been erratic and many people are still undecided or willing to change.

Sarkozy is in front and it looks like he's going to make it to the next round. The race is on, however between Segolene Royal and François Bayrou, who has fallen recently in the polls.

Its a interesting situation for left centrists who are looking ahead to the final round because Bayrou polls much better than Royal against Sarkozy.

This news disturbs me greatly. I hope you all will publicize this action by the French government to your respective friends and associates so that making laws like this doesn't go unnoticed.

The grounds for the law are based on the government's assertion that people are committing violent crimes so that their friends can film the act. While there may be a few examples of this happening around the world, the more likely intent of such a law is to suppress the voice of people critical to the government and specifically the gathering of evidence of violent crimes perpetrated by government agencies.

Today is a dark day in the history of French freedom of the press.

A good breakdown of what the 2 major political candidates stand for. Don't forget to vote :/

Sarko vs. Sego: what do they stand for? - Here is an overview of France's frontrunners presidential programs. [Expatica]

So there is a Socialist Party office down the street from me on Rue Charlot near Bretagne. It is rarely used but I have seen a few meetings going on here and there. Last week however that all changed dramatically.

It looks like a few rocks were thrown at the windows and something was spray painted on the wall. Using the handy dandy Google Translate, I was able to ascertain that "1 Pavé dans l'urne" = A paving stone isn't going into the Urne

or (thanks again to Google)

"Mon bulletin de vote est un pavé, mais il ne rentre pas dans l’urne" = "My ballot is a paving stone, and it’s not going into a ballot box."

We try not to take political sides here at the Paris Times but since it's in English and is insightful... Go nuts