French elections

I wonder how many Government front bench politicians can speak at least one other language - and why do the BBC insist on 'voice overs' for French, German or Italian politicians - at least let us hear how they speak - and use subtitles for clarity.

The croissant in the room could be that Macron is young, handsome, photogenic and has some charisma. All vote winners . Unlike some party leaders in the UK.

Mentioning no names.

The croissant in the room could be that Macron is young, handsome, photogenic and has some charisma. All vote winners . Unlike some party leaders in the UK.
It shouldn't matter a jot, should it suzied!
but I must say he is rather moreish, reminds me of a French man I knew aeons ago

Yes railman quite agree about the voice overs. Marine had a lot of support in some parts of France. Pity that many voters don't think of the bigger picture when they vote
There were a lot of people who declined to choose on their ballot paper and turnout was low. However I'm hoping that Monsieur M. will show us what can be done to improve a country. Certainly he promised a lot of good stuff in his manifesto. U.K. politicians please take note!

Turnout considered low and was something like 74% - the referendum turnout was 72% and considered OK!

Suddenly French politics became interesting, a side effect of Brexit.

Good! Ideas don't respect political borders. It's about time people woke up to what's going on just the other side of the Channel.

Oh dear! Farage and Banks still doing their Brexit version of remoaning! ~lol~ Their plan hasn't worked out, so why the heck can't people see through it?

Brexit and Trump worked, but the rest didn't. Well done, the Netherlands, Austria and France! I wish you all well!

It won't take long before Brexiteers realise that they've condemned themselves to be a little island off the coast of mainland Europe with hardly any power on the world stage. It didn't take much to destroy 500 years of building ourselves up to be a great trading nation.

But hey ho, the people who put money into it all couldn't really care less. They will have paid for a gamble which didn't pay off. They'll be OK. It will be the rest of us who suffer.

Peaseblossom , Thanks for your comments .have a good day

I think it is a pity that it was down to these two candidates - thank goodness Le Pen did not win but in fact Macron is very inexperienced indeed, has not been a politician and has no politicians to back him either.
He seems charismatic and personable but is that enough?

He could be in for a very difficult time - which will mean the whole of France could be heading for stormy waters.
Let's hope he learns fast and manages to keep everyone calm.

There is a general election in France in a few weeks so the political map could look a bit different. European countries are more used to alliances so that could help too. Depends who he has for ministers - he was a minister although not elected in any form at the time.

In our village the vote was almost 50-50. It seems most people who voted for LePen are primarily worried about the immigrant situation - that's the case in the SE where they have a large number of N.African Arabs
Her other main support was in the industrial NE where there's evidently a lot of poverty and unemployment .

Would anyone give it more than a passing mention if it was Macron who was 64 and his wife 39? If not, why not?

The main thing in this election, regardless of why people voted for Macron, is that Marine Le Pen got far fewer votes than expected. Before the poll Macrons lead was 15 - 20%. In the election it was over 30%. The majority of the French people do not like or want Marine Le Pen and her party.

In the 2002 election, Marine Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie got through to the second round and the run-off was between him and Jacques Chirac, a man not just unpopular but loathed by many French people but when the chips were down, people voted for him, literally, holding their noses, but determined at all costs to make sure that the Front Nationale should not get into power.

I do not think this instinctive distaste for the National Front has gone away

Has anybody been following the stories of Putin's involvement in the French elections? If true, it's mind boggling.

I saw a report about Macron's HQ computers being hacked some weeks ago - (possibly Russian connections mentioned) however the team had anti hacking plans and in some way flooded the files with so much info - some true some false that the hackers had a dreadful job trying to sort the wheat from the chaff and sort of gave up and released the lot at midnight Friday.
The Electoral Commision gave instruction that no media outlets should publish any of it. I saw a couple of Facebook posts supposedly with a link to the hacked stuff but although there all day there were no comments and no sharing which I thought interesting. There were warnings to the general public too.
I haven't seen any direct reports of his involvement.

The "Observer" published allegations on Sunday. If this were just the usual conspiracy sites, I wouldn't take any notice. The Observer isn't the British paper of the same name, but an American one, owned by Jared Kushner (Trump's son-in-law). I'm baffled and can't work out if it's fake news.

There are claims that Le Pen has links with Putin, who also (allegedly) influenced the American election and the referendum.

Carole Cadwalladr (from the "Guardian") sent details to the CPS today of a network of people, who allegedly undermined the referendum illegally, and it's being suggested that it's all linked. I find it incredible, but even if any of it is true, it seems we're entering a new world I don't understand. What the hell is going on?

I don't know but I don't find it incredible, just frighteningly credible.

I agree, anything that can be hacked will be hacked.

James Comey, the FBI Director who was leading investigations into Trump's links with Russia, has just been fired. Laura Kuenssberg's reaction was "Wow", so I guess this is a significant move. More and more baffling.

But do you realise the significance of it all? If this is true and the links in Cadwalladr's article are true, the whole of Western democracy is being undermined and bought by a few people with power and money. So much for the élite controlling us. This lot are the new élite and I think I prefer the old lot.

I have always thought that politicians only tinker and think they run countries but that it is these shadowy people, an exclusive elite, who truly hold the power.

With computers and people with the ability to hack it is becoming easier for the and for foreign powers to control and manipulate.

But then I thought I was being fanciful and that I had read too many thrillers or science fiction.

easier for them

I thought Watergate was too incredible to be true. Hmm...

It does sound like something out of a thriller...trouble is being part of it isn't very thrilling.

Anyone who believes themselves to be a European and wants to be dictated to by unelected little Hitlers is a traitor to their country. They must be blind if they cannot see the damage mass immigration is causing. I fear for my children and grandchildren's future. We see all the time of terrorism, sexual assaults etc. even though most of them are not on the biased news. I see many of these things reported on Facebook, things that are ignored by PC loonies.