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Some recent articles on the French Presidential elections today..
The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/23/france-presidential-election-voting-begins-eu-le-penFrance’s interior ministry said turnout at midday was 28.54%, a slight increase on the previous poll in 2012 and well up on the record low 21.4% in 2002, when Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie advanced to the runoff in a major upset. Analysts have said the abstention level could play a big part in this year’s vote.
Topless demonstrators from the Femen activist group briefly caused a commotion as they staged a protest against Le Pen outside a polling station in the northern town of Henin-Beaumont where she was heading to vote.
Topless demonstrators from the Femen activist group briefly caused a commotion as they staged a protest against Le Pen outside a polling station in the northern town of Henin-Beaumont where she was heading to vote.
More recent reports indicate that since noon, the turnout has been slightly less than in 2002.
The Telegraph (UK) is really playing up Marine Le Pen, but other sources say that Macron is slightly ahead of her. I believe that The Telegraph is considered RW or right-leaning. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/23/french-election-live-results-exit-polls/
There is no real breaking news as the candidate spread is still tight according to the latest polls and some believe that any of the top four (Macron, Le Pen, Fillon, or Melenchon) could still be chosen for the top two slots for the run-off. The general consensus, however, is that there the run-off will be between Macron and Le Pen and Macron appears to be leading as of the latest reports.
One site in French (actually it's in French-speaking Belgium) that seems to be updated the most regularly is RTBF: https://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_presidentielle-francaise-la-participation-a-midi-direct?id=9587638#
Le Monde reports that there is a LONG line of French expats waiting to vote in Montreal: http://www.lemonde.fr/election-presidentielle-2017/video/2017/04/23/election-presidentielle-2017-a-montreal-des-centaines-de-metres-de-file-d-attente-pour-voter_5115864_4854003.html
This link at Le Monde is also being regularly updated: http://www.lemonde.fr/election-presidentielle-2017/live/2017/04/23/election-presidentielle-suivez-la-journee-du-premier-tour-en-direct_5115735_4854003.html
The polls in France will close in a little more than an hour from now.
I had actually liked Manuel Valls best (he was Prime Minister until December 2016; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Valls), but the Socialist Party did not choose him as its candidate. The Socialists have not been able to rally around the candidate that they did choose. Valls has also thrown his support to Macron, infuriating some Socialists. http://en.rfi.fr/france/20170330-french-socialists-turmoil-over-vallss-macron-support
Unless Fillon is able to pull off a minor miracle, it looks very much as though neither of France's traditional parties will have a candidate in the run-off election.
As a globalist myself, I very much prefer Macron to ALL other candidates currently in the race. But should the race be between Le Pen and Fillon, I'd back Fillon in a second over the female version of DJT, although I must admit that Le Pen is MUCH more intelligent than Man-Toddler. At least, Fillon is also a globalist.
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