
Dr Tim Blakemore, a former senior law lecturer at the University of Northampton who now lives in France, looks at whether exciting French politics can be just a little too exciting
The last few months have seen a host of politicking in France, with associated protests and strikes, and I wonder what the UK residents in France think of French politics?
It all began in May with that thumping victory for Emmanuel Macron in the Presidential elections. Then in June the legislative elections to elect députés in the National Assembly also produced a landslide for Macron’s new party, which had now changed its title from La France En Marche to La République En Marche.
The party which had been expected to be the major contender for office, re-named Les Républicains by Nicolas Sarkozy, suffered in both the Presidential and legislative elections because of the revelation that its leader and Presidential candidate François Fillon had taken the idea of job creation a little too far.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise followed up his charismatic performance in the Presidential election, where he had only narrowly missed getting through to the second round, by gaining several seats at the expense of the suffering Parti Socialiste. On the other hand Marine Le Pen lost heavily in the second round ...
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