So, I've previously done this with the UK, and with Germany, but now, with the contentious French election in the spotlight, it seems like a good time to discuss the French election, and its electoral system.
So the French electoral system has come under fire with this election, as the recent 2022 elections were seen as an election between two lesser evils. And when you really think of it, Le Pen vs Macron is a lot like Trump vs Biden. You have one very far right party facing off against a lukewarm centrist. And ultimately, the centrist won.
Given Le Pen has extreme right views and was very anti NATO and even pro Putin in some ways, Macron winning again is good. But why does the French electoral system seem to suck much like the American one, with most voters groaning over supporting either option? Well, that's what I want to focus on.
So, the French electoral system actually isn't a mere two party system like the US. They have a two round electoral system in which they have an open "vote for whomever you want" first round, where the two top candidates move on to the next stage of the election. And then you have people choosing between the top two candidates. The first round actually had like a dozen different candidates all over the political spectrum, but of them, only around 3 of them were relevant. You had Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, who got 28% of the vote, Marine Le Pen was a far right nationalist, who got 23% of the vote, and Jean-Luc Melenchon with 22% of the vote. He was a Marxist. So you actually do have some decent representation on paper, compared to the US. You have a right wing option, a left wing option, and a centrist option. And while more niche candidates existed, they didn't get much support and were relatively uncompetitive. Still, given how American politics is currently captured by the republicans and democrats, both awful options, the french system seems slightly better on paper. I even recall they did have a socialist president (Hollande) not long ago, although they lost favor as they went a bit too far with stuff at times and the population and especially the billionaire class backlashed against them.
Anyway, this time around, Macron got 28%, and Le Pen 23%. This means they went to the second round of the election. And there, Macron got 59% of the vote, and Le Pen 41%. So Macron won again. Yay...but also ugh. I get the dislike of the guy. But still, better than Le Pen, who would be the equivalent of us electing Marjorie Taylor Greene. Anyway, from my more foreign policy oriented approach right now, eh...Macron isn't bad. But, I get why he isnt that amazing either. He's basically a centrist neoliberal type. Honestly, I'm not really sold on any of the three big candidates. I mean, I'm not big on Marxism at this point, but neoliberalism sucks too. And the far right is just...no. Honestly, I really just feel like the current political spectrum isn't very satisfying. Like, my views go beyond mere capitalism vs socialism, or liberalism vs conservatism or socialism. I mean, once you're Yang pilled like me, there's just no going back.
Speaking of which, how do I feel about this electoral system? It's okay, but let's face it, it's kinda crappy. I mean, the top 2 options get to the next round FPTP style? Really? And then you have to choose between them? I could see the first round being gamed in a lesser evil way to only allow three realistic options. Which is better than 2 like in the US, but really. The top guy is gonna be the top guy, and the people are gonna lesser evil vote between options 2 and 3 to get in that other slot while other candidates might get ignored. LLike I might have to vote for the Marxist in this election to knock le pen out, rather than voting for say, a forwardist type option.
I don't know, I just feel that ranked choice voting is a better system. Where I rank my options and as they get eliminated my vote is transferred to my viable back up options until someone wins. That seems better than this. So, while this is slightly better than the American system, it still leaves a lot to be desired. Anyway, how does this compare to UK and Germany? Well, if I recall Germany had 6 viable parties so I considered that better. The UK had 2 main ones, with a bunch of smaller ones, but their overton window was significantly left of ours, with Johnson being like an American centrist by comparison, and the Labor party reminding me of American leftists like the greens. So, it's an okay system, but there could be better.
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