To compare, let’s review Canada’s federal electoral system where one wins with a relative majority (First-past-the-post). With four candidates in such an election, one could theoretically win with a little over the quarter of the vote (Example: Candidate A 26%, B 25%, C 25%, D 24%). In Canada’s parliamentary elections, you don’t vote for the Prime Minister, you only vote for your member of parliament. The leader of the political party with the most seats usually becomes the De Facto Prime Minister. The head of state in Canada remains the Governor General, an unelected viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.

France’s electoral system for Presidential elections is a two-round system also known as runoff voting. The first round is open to all candidates who qualify. Under current rules, you need to secure 500 signatures from various city councilors, members of various assemblies and such. If you can gather this number, you’re in! Based on this system, the French electorate had over ten candidates to choose from.

Today’s results are those of the first round. To qualify for the second round, you must be among the first two. This was the case today for Nicolas Sarkozy (27.08%) and François Hollande (28.63%). The latest count is as follows.

• François Hollande 28,63 % - Head of the French Socialist Party
• Nicolas Sarkozy 27,08 % - The conservative incumbent (UMP)

• Marine Le Pen 18,01 % - The candidate for the extreme right wing party, the ‘National Front’.
• Jean-Luc Mélenchon 11,13 % - A bombastic candidate for the far-left wing ‘Front de Gauche’
• François Bayrou 9,11 % - A moderate centrist candidate
• Eva Joly 2,28 % - France’s Green Party candidate
• Nicolas Dupont-aignan 1,8 % - A eurosceptic neo-gaullist candidate
• Philippe Poutou 1,15 % - the Anti-Capitalist party candidate
• Nathalie Arthaud 0,57 % - a worker’s union candidate
• Jacques Cheminade 0,25 % - a candidate for Lyndon LaRouche’s movement

François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy will face each other in a runoff election two weeks from today. This is how the President of France has been elected since 1965 when Charles de Gaulle changed the system from an electoral college of 80 000 members to universal suffrage.

In early June, parliamentary elections will be held in France, Overseas territories and for the first time ever for French expatriates around the world.

Note : I have exercised my right to vote in all French elections since 1995 and in all Canadian elections since 1993.

My preferences since 1995

France

• 1995 : (1) Jacques Chirac (2) Jacques Chirac
  
• 2002 : (1) Jacques Chirac (2) Jacques Chirac
• 2007 : (1) François Bayrou (2) Nicolas Sarkozy

Canada

• 1993 : Liberal, St Paul (Jean Chrétien, PM)
• 1997 : Liberal, St Paul  (Jean Chrétien, PM)
• 2000 : Liberal, St Paul (Jean Chrétien, PM)
• 2004 : Liberal, Trinity-Spadina (Paul Martin, PM)
• 2006 : Green Party, Davenport (Stephen Harper, PM)
  
• 2008 : Green Party, Davenport (Stephen Harper, PM)
• 2011 : New Democratic Party, Trinity-Spadina (Stephen Harper, PM)

France’s parliamentary election for expatriates causes a stir in Canada and the USA for different reasons.

2012 is an important year for political junkies: the United States will have a Presidential election as well as elections to the House of Representatives and part of the Senate. France will hold its presidential election in April with a runoff in May and legislative elections will follow in June. There will also be elections in Bermuda, Ghana, Palau, Madagascar …

France’s parliamentary election will feature a whole new roster of candidates representing expatriates around the world. French citizens duly registered at consulates will elect eleven members of parliament and one of these members will represent French citizens living in Canada and the United-States of America. [&]

At last count, there are over fifteen known candidates; most of whom will probably drop out of the race by the time papers have to be filed. Expatriates living in North America might get to choose between at least three left-wing candidates, one centrist, six conservative/liberal candidates and one far-right candidate.

The Socialist Party picked its candidate following an internal run-off and has set up an alliance with a green party candidate. The socialist electorate in North America is around 40 % of the total vote. Two other minor candidates are also on the left but do not live in North America. They are considered token candidates, air-dropped into the district so national parties can claim they have tried to put as many women on the ballot as possible. A centrist party called the Modem has failed to connect with the electorate in France as well as overseas, their local candidate recently returned to France after living many years in San Francisco.

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party, the ‘UMP’ has sent its candidate all the way from Paris, none other than his Secretary of State for Trade, Small and Medium Enterprises, Tourism, Services, Liberal professions and Consumption under the Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry. Try fitting that on a business card! Most outsiders who know little about French politics would consider Lefebvre a shoe-in.

Unfortunately for M Lefebvre, he’s actually a very poor substitute for the much more popular Christine Lagarde who was appointed to the International Monetary Fund in May of 2011 following the Dominique Strauss Kahn affaire. M Lefebvre is a serial gaffer who thinks New-York is America’s Federal Capital and when asked who his favourite author was, responded with the name of a clothing store [Zadig et Voltaire, instead of the famous novel, Zadig, or The Book of Fate by Voltaire]. Youtube videos of his gaffes have gone viral.

This poor choice for a candidate has given birth to a plethora of conservative and liberal candidates including a name-dropping Hedge Fund Manager who wants to expel the children of celebrities from America’s French Lycées to make space for French Nationals. This of course would only be possible if the French government actually ran the Lycées, which they clearly do not by any stretch of the imagination. Julien Balkany’s position has been relayed by newspapers world wide because of the celebrities he mentioned in his speech: Madonna, Donald Trump & Angelina Jolie [x].

One of the most influential local candidates, Gérard Michon, was elected for the fourth time to a consultative body in France for expatriates that elects a number of French Senators. I intend to support this candidate for office as he has shown dedication as well as a spirit for independence. Gérard Michon is an engineer by trade and is very well known in math circles for his very popular website Numericana.com [*].

The legislative election’s first round in North America will be held on Saturday June the 2^nd and the run-off will be held on Saturday June 16^th 2012. Most registered voters are likely to vote electronically or by mail, thus avoiding long queues at Consular Offices.

• [&] The Government of Canada is quite upset over this election : Foreign Elections in Canada and Foreign Electoral Constituencies Circular Note No. XDC-1264 of September 8, 2011 - ” It must be emphasized that, as a matter of policy, the Government of Canada will continue to refuse requests by foreign States to include Canada in their respective extraterritorial electoral constituencies. Also, the Department will not allow foreign governments to conduct election campaigns in Canada or establish foreign political parties and movements in Canada. “
• [x] Storm over French school in NY accepting superstar children
• [*] Deciphering the Super Bowl: XLVI is Greek to kids

More reading

• You can consult this long and detailed list of candidates [in French]
• A number of articles about this election [in French]

I built this montage in Photoshop on Monday, Feb 13th, 2012.

I posted it to Facebook that evening and in less than 48 hours later is has been ‘liked’ by over 13000 people, shared 9600 times and gathered over 347 upvotes and 72 downvotes on reddit.com!

A month later, the image has been ‘liked’ by 75751 people, shared 48052 times on Facebook.

Before Internex, I used to frequent the Echo BBS run with a lot of passion by someone named Karen S. I remember meeting various members of the board for Bowling and the odd BBQ. BBS’s were small, local but also close-knit. It was either on Echo or a similar BBS that someone told me about this BBS that connected you to an In-ter-net : ZOOiD BBS (The Zoo of Ids) soon to become Internex Online.

Since I was perusing Plato’s Republic at the time (Oh my that sounds pompous), I chose the handle socrates. Therefore my email account at Internex was none other than socrates@io.org (don’t bother writing to it, it’ll bounce for sure). A while later, I learned that I had my own space for building my own website.

I remember hand coding my first HTML pages with a text editor called joe in a unix shell and being amazed by the fact what I had created could be instantly be accessed by  anybody around the world … My first URL was www.io.org/~socrates/

At the time, the Internet was all about unix, ftp, ircii, usenet, gopher, telnet and eventually accessing the World Wide Web with lynx.

By November 1995, Internex Online was sold to Greenlight Communication but users were able to continue using io.org services. By 1997,  the former services of io.org were taken over by ACC TelEnterprises Ltd. who promptly ruined the service and alienated thousands of users. Today, the io.org domain is owned by Primus Canada. I don’t remember who was my next ISP (was it Interlog?) but I’ll never forget Internex Online!

Twenty years later, it feels like we’ve come a very long way. I now access the internet and the web via mobile devices, it’s an integral part of my daily life and has also provided me employment and enjoyment beyond anything I could have imagined back when I first connected to io.org.

To learn more about Io.org please check out these links

• Internet Online @ Wikipedia
• A short history of Io.org

Is the Web, the Information Big Bang, also going end in a Big Whimper?

I present to you the case of the Huffington Post and its new “Canadian” incarnation.

I live in Canada and I’ve been reading the Huffington Post for 4 or more years now, and while a lot of it is bunk and noise, especially anything relating to health issues, I read it because I wanted to hear from the American Left and American Progressives. Just like I check Matt Drudge to hear from the American Right and Guys in Fedoras.

Why do I like to read about American politics? Well interest of course, but also political commentary. You see, in 2008, one of my political blogs (currently offline) was listed in France’s major news websites: LeMonde.fr. I used many sources including the Huffington Post for analysis from a uniquely American perspective.

Today, the Huffington Post hijacked my request to visit its website and hoisted upon me a “Canadian” version with “customized” content for which I have no interest. Maple Leaf graphic included, in case I hadn’t noticed the .ca domain, the childish cartoons and Canadian content.

We already know that being in Canada means not being able to watch Hulu.com, being banned from Comedy Central and force fed the Comedy Network. Not only is our televised programming culturally jammed with atrocious and horrid Canadian Content⁽¹⁾, our last bastion of information freedom, the web, is slowly closing in on us. Let users decide which version of the Huffington Post they wish to see.

Until then …

Well I see by the clock on the wall
That it’s time to bid you one and all
Good-bye (Good-bye)
So long (So long)
Farewell (Farewell)
Adieu (Adieu)

Be good (Stay well)
Bye bye (Keep warm)
Relax (And eat)
Stay loose (Take care)
Adieu mon vieux
À la prochaine
Good-bye till when we meet again!

Note 1: Canadian Idol, Canadian this, Canadian that … Remember Metropia? Remember PopCultured and the painfully unfunny Elvira Kurt? (My sincere apologies for that last flashback … )

PS: While we’re on the topic of customized content, please watch Eli Pariser’s talk on online “filter bubbles” [TED]

Here are some favourites among classics.

• 1930 - 1940
  • La Grande Illusion (1937) - Greatest movie, epic about WW 1, European change, the end of aristocracy and French POW. Movie was pillaged by Hollywood and hated by Adolf Hitler. By Renoir with Jean Gabin, Erich von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay
  • Pépé le moko (1937) - An allegory of France-Algeria relations as seen through the personal relations of Gabin and an Algerian woman
  • Hotel du Nord (1938) - Classic about life around Paris.
  • La bête humaine (1938) - Gabin a train engineer with mental health issues as understood in the 30s.
  • Quai des brumes (1938) - A deserter tries to start a new life,
• 1950 - 1960
  • Bob le Flambeur (1956) - Bob the gambler - A brilliant thriller that was “remade” in Hollywood
  • Les 400 coups (1959) - Tales of adolescence, solitude and misunderstanding
• 1960 - 1970
  • Le cave se rebiffe (1961) - Great thriller about printing fake money and what can go wrong …
  • L’armée des ombres (1969) - About the French resistance, with Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret. Dark. Very dark.
• 1970 - 1990
  • Le Chat (1971) - Jean Gabin and Simone Signoret. Excellent movie about a very old couple that descend into pure hatred…
  • La veuve Couderc (1971) - Alain Delon and Simone Signoret. An escapee and life in a very small hamlet, divided by family squabbles.
  • Adieu Poulet (1975) - Lino Ventura as a renegade cop, 70s
  • Tchao Pantin (1983) - Coluche, a famous French comedian in a dramatic and extremely depressing role. A great snapshot of the gritty Paris of the 80s.
• I would also suggest some movies by Louis de Funès but the humour is dated and doesn’t cross cultural barriers very well. Some of his slapstick can be enjoyed on Youtube: Potato recipe in German - offensive but typical of post-war comedy - Jaguar skit - Losing his mind over lost money