With Just A Few Seconds Left on the Clock...

            I’ve been trying to avoid this subject, but today it seems impossible: French politics.  All of France is holding its breath, because… (wait for it), the current President is going to announce his candidature for President.  Qualified candidates have until March 30^th to put their hats into the ring, and most parties have already presented a candidate, so it seems exorbitantly dramatic for the current President to wait so long.  Well, perhaps it’s not just the wait, but the drama behind this.  No one knows how he will announce this, whether it be on the radio, the television, or through a press release, and he’s playing up the uncertainty by being coy with the media and avoiding direct questions.

French Presidential elections start at the end of April.  Unlike in the US, they are a direct vote and consist of two consecutive elections, like a round robin tournament.  All presented candidates are listed in the first election and the two with the most votes make it to the second round.  The winner of that is the President.

In France, the amount of media time each candidate can have is strictly controlled, so until one claim’s candidature, one’s media time is not measured.  It’s simply Presidential coverage, and the amount of Presidential coverage recently has strangely increased.  The President has been on the television discussion the economic crises, visiting failing factories, and has shared with the general public his plans for the upcoming years, such as leaving an aging nuclear plant open, increasing taxes, basing immigration on income, reducing unemployed benefits, and banning homosexual marriage on the bases that it will “blur the image of the institution of marriage”, (regardless that he’s been in this institution three times.)  Every tactic to draw attention to himself has been employed, and details, we’re told, will be released when an official candidature is announced.

“Official Candidature” is when the clock starts on how much media time is officially provided.  It’s a moment I anticipate to stop all the silly drama and scripted attention getting. It’s a moment to place all players on the same level playing field facing the same time left clock.  So, until then, I hold my breath, practice my look of utter surprise, and wait for the inevitable.

Then, I’m pulling out my stopwatch.