Sunday 16 March 2008

The left gains ground in French elections - word of the day ras de marée

So the left has gained ground across France this Sunday as last and of course we are delighted. France 3 is just telling us that our département (Ain) and region (Rhône Alpes) are undergoing a landslide victory by the left, including the town of Belley (of Curé d'Ars and Brillat Savarin fame) which has been held by the right since the end of the war. (ras de marée which is literally a high tide or tidal wave is translated in political terms as landslide - nothing to do with rats I assure you.)
What I find rather worrying though is that these real gains by the left at the local level are being made at a time when the French left has no national leadership, no programme to speak of and no organisation at all it would seem. Not much chance of change at the national level given last year's presidential and legislative elections.
Trying to get any idea of who we should vote for from the local French socialist party was almost impossible - in the end we took late counsel from the Genevan socialist party!
Anyway for the time being I shall leave my concerns to one side and just enjoy the evening. The niggling feeling remains that this will give the PS the wrong idea that they are more united than they are.
One day I think I'll understand that I need to worry less about French politics and just go out and sing "On a gagné!"

0 Comments: