I think it's about voting for whoever you have to vote for to keep the Tories out. Lib Dems in my case. Labour in some cases. Vote swapping does sound like a good concept though.
I don't know a whole lot about French politics, but I'm sure they have their moments of coolness politically speaking.
I was taking my French A-Level about the time of the presidential election so I had to learn a fair bit about it. Although the biggest fact I remember is that there were three Communist parties who all got about 5% of the vote each.
Aah, if they'd banded together as one party they could've got 15% and .. well, done something 3 times better. They've got proportional representation in France though, haven't they, so I guess three lots of 5% is just the same as 15% if they've got similar ideas.
Yes, it was quite irritating. Especially that's partly why the fascist bastard Le Pen almost got in. There seems to be many more political parties in France. The French come across as much more politically motivated, I guess.
I don't think it's that. I think it's just that proportional representation is a system that encourages small parties. Under our First Past the Post system, small parties don't really stand much of a chance, because they have to not just get votes, but get more votes than anyone else in the constituency they're standing in. That's why, over here, smaller parties like the Greens and the Communists only stand in a very small number of seats, the ones where they stand a chance of at least getting enough votes to get their deposits back. Under proportional representation the proportion of the vote is represented, so even if a party doesn't get enough votes to beat all the other candidates, it may still get, say, 2% of the overall vote, which would entitle it to maybe one MP, depending obviously on how the system works. So, in conclusion, I talk too much, but there are more political parties in France because of the PR system of elections.
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Date: 2005-04-15 06:32 am (UTC)I don't know a whole lot about French politics, but I'm sure they have their moments of coolness politically speaking.
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Date: 2005-04-15 06:36 am (UTC)I was taking my French A-Level about the time of the presidential election so I had to learn a fair bit about it. Although the biggest fact I remember is that there were three Communist parties who all got about 5% of the vote each.
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Date: 2005-04-15 06:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-15 06:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-15 06:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-15 08:23 am (UTC)That's probably true, but from what I've read the French do seem more inclined to political activism. Probably a mix of both factors.