Watching the French election

There is now less than a month until the first round of the French presidential election on 22 April.  Nicolas Sarkozy resigned from the interior ministry yesterday to focus on his campaign after falling behind Segolene Royale in the opinion polls. 

Already there is plenty of English language coverage from bloggers. If you want to keep up with events and don't want to rely only on British newspapers, here are some useful sites:

David Orland, a Paris based American who writes the faute de pire blog, has regular updates on the election. He frequently translates articles from the French newspapers so you will find stuff on his site that never makes the papers over here.  This comparison of the right-wing candidates' immigration policies makes interesting reading. David has a sense of humour too. He finishes that post with the quip, "Gee, now that I've translated it, even Bayrou sounds good from an American point of view..."

French Election 2007 is also written by an American. It includes a French Election for Dummies guide, profiles of the main candidates  and rolling opinion poll updates. 

To reverse the theme, SuperFrenchie is a blog by a French man living in America. It carries the strap-line, "If it weren't for the French, Americans would be speaking English today!"  For that alone, SuperFrenchie has to be worth reading.

France Decides is written by British expatriate Christopher delaMare, whose surname bears witness to this country's shared history with its neighbour across the channel. This post about Le Pen's softening line on the EU is food for thought. Christopher concludes, " it is perhaps shameful that the extreme parties in France are more capable of discussing this subject than the mainstream parties in the UK."

GalliaWatch is written by a retired teacher and Francophile, living in the USA.  Again, there are useful translations of French blogs and newspaper articles.

Paris Calling is a blog by Alex, yet another American in Paris (it's a well-trodden path). Having grown up in France, he speaks the lingo and understands the French. On Friday, a kindergarten principal was arrested after she argued with police who were trying to round up illegal immigrant parents outside the school. Alex commented:

The French adore their schools. And an heroic teacher standing in the way of an immigrant parent getting pulled off by police? The Vichy echoes are obvious (which Segolene also milked yesterday); This lady will have an avenue named after her!   

If you haven't come across it already, the acerbic No Pasaran is another useful source of English translations from French newspapers, and has a unique perspective on all things French.

Finally, if you fancy a small wager on the outcome, keep an eye on Political Betting. It has regular updates on the betting odds for all political contests together with opinion poll analyses.  Sarkozy is still the bookies' favourite to be walking into the Elysee on 17 May, when Chirac will finally hand over to the new president.

That should be enough to keep you well informed but if you know of any other good sites, please let me know. 

Comments

[do]

Thanks for putting me on the list!

[Arnold]

Don't forget France24. They've even got a section of their site at http://observer.france24.com devoted to collecting views and opinions from people around the world (mainly bloggers but also a growing number of journalists).

They even take a fair amount from my site.