# The French have an election in 2017. Ne c'est pas?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-have-an-election-in-2017-ne-cest-pas/773401
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [November 29, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-have-an-election-in-2017-ne-cest-pas/773401 "2016-11-29T19:41:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-have-an-election-in-2017-ne-cest-pas/773401/21 "2016-12-01T22:08:19Z")
Let’s break that glass ceiling. Im with Her.
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### Author:  [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-have-an-election-in-2017-ne-cest-pas/773401/22 "2016-12-02T02:07:14Z")
> [@octopus](#):
>
> When the French socialist president calls out Islam and immigration you know the world has turned upside down. [Hollande's Le Monde interviews 'political suicide' - BBC News](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37702917)
Eh, [those specific comments](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/12/francois-hollande-france-has-a-problem-with-islam-french-president-book-nicolas-sarkozy-little-de-gaulle) are less Trump/right-wing sounding than the headline may suggest:
> [@Francois Hollande](#):
>
> “It’s true there is a problem with Islam … and nobody doubts that. There’s a problem with Islam because Islam demands places (of worship), recognition. It’s not that Islam is a problem because it’s a religion that is in itself dangerous but because it wants to assert itself as a religion on the Republic. What might also be a problem is if Muslims don’t criticise acts of radicalisation, if imams behave in an anti-republican way. The veiled woman of today will be the Marianne of tomorrow … because, in a certain way, if we offer her the right conditions to blossom she will liberate herself from her veil and become a French woman, while remaining a believer if she wishes, capable of carrying with her an ideal … Ultimately, what are we betting on? That she will prefer freedom to subservience. Perhaps the veil is a kind of protection for her, but that tomorrow she will not need it in order to be reassured of her presence in society.”
This is in the context of the officially secular French state (which also bans the public wearing of the hijab in schools) that is pretty much the nightmare of the U.S. Republican party.
As for immigration:
> [@Francois Hollande](#):
>
> “I think there are too many arrivals, immigrants who shouldn’t be there … we teach them to speak French and then another group arrives and we have to start all over again. It never stops … so, at some point it has to stop.”
Not many European parties, right or left, are huge fans of immigration, though most make small to medium exceptions to taking in refugees. While the Statute of Liberty and its (American-written inscription) “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” was built in France, it definitely wasn’t intended to express any ideal that represented France itself.
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-have-an-election-in-2017-ne-cest-pas/773401/23 "2016-12-02T03:20:53Z")
What about Dominique Strauss-Kahn? I haven’t heard about him lately.
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-have-an-election-in-2017-ne-cest-pas/773401/24 "2016-12-02T20:28:00Z")
Wasn’t he convicted of statutory rape?
Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
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### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-have-an-election-in-2017-ne-cest-pas/773401/25 "2016-12-02T21:23:59Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#):
>
> Wasn’t he convicted of statutory rape?
No.
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### Author:  [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-have-an-election-in-2017-ne-cest-pas/773401/26 "2016-12-03T00:18:00Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#):
>
> There seems to have been a bit of excitement here about a recent election in the United States, but the forum is open to discussions about other countries as well. France has an election coming up, and interesting things appear to be happening over there.
>
> \
>
> In the runoff, [\*\*experts assure us](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/28/marine-le-pen-stands-no-chance-winning-french-presidency-next/), Le Pen can’t possibly win. \*\* The experts also assured us that Trump and Brexit couldn’t possibly win.
The French are in for a very rude awakening if they stick with that belief. The pins are falling like dominoes. The right is taking back control from the liberalism of the last few decades and we’re in for some very rough seas
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-have-an-election-in-2017-ne-cest-pas/773401/27 "2016-12-03T00:30:07Z")
> [@PastTense](#):
>
> What about Dominique Strauss-Kahn? I haven’t heard about him lately.
Not in the run. We didn’t hear about him as a politician for a while, either. We heard about him a lot when he has been tried (and acquited) for pimping, though. His sexual proclivities ended his otherwise very promising political career for good.
Also, Fillon isn’t center right. He’s right right. He’s a conservative Christian, but social issues aren’t discussed much wrt this election . His radical (by French standards) free market stance much much more so.
I wouldn’t bet a cent on him being elected given the reforms he promises to implement in usual times, but the left is in such a state of decomposition that it’s difficult to imagine anybody on this side gathering enough votes to be present for the second round (presumably leftist votes will be spread over a number of candidates while Fillon will be the only significant candidate on the right), so at this point a victory by default against Marine Le Pen is likely even though few people will actually want him as president.
Although his (massive) victory in the primaries came as a complete surprise (he was expected to end up third, way behind the two favorites, and came out first way ahead of them), so I guess surprises are always possible.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-have-an-election-in-2017-ne-cest-pas/773401/28 "2016-12-03T00:42:48Z")
> [@computergeek](#):
>
> The French are in for a very rude awakening if they stick with that belief. The pins are falling like dominoes. The right is taking back control from the liberalism of the last few decades and we’re in for some very rough seas
Le Pen winning the elections seems unlikely, but I’m not convinced it’s impossible in this case. A lot of people are really worried about Fillon being elected and I could imagine large numbers of people who wouldn’t usually envision to vote for the far right to do so just to prevent this election. Marine Le Pen appears much more socially minded and, in a way, moderate, than he does. Also, of course, she’s a populist and nationalist fearmonger, and the ground is currently fertile for this political stance.
However a French president who doesn’t command a majority in parliament has little power and influence, and I can’t see her getting a significant number of seats (parliament elections should follow almost immediately the presidential election).
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### Author:  [@doubleminus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doubleminus)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-have-an-election-in-2017-ne-cest-pas/773401/29 "2016-12-03T00:49:32Z")
As elswhere, until the Left finds some new paradigms more related to the needs of the population and not some special groups, the French are unfortunately left with the right (pun half intended). Still Fillon is better than La Pen.
[Also Hollande riding a scooter to meet his lover](http://www.closermag.fr/article/decouvrez-comment-francois-hollande-a-berne-les-photographes-pour-rejoindre-julie-gayet-609273) is so shocking in the lack of style that it reflects on all the Left, I’m afraid. C’est pathétique.
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