Hollande Days

Yesterday was the 2nd and final round of elections in France between candidates, Sarkozy and Hollande.

I spent the Sunday with my colleague Maryse and her family. I went with her to the polls in her village, Escalquens, here is how it went down...

To cast a vote, you take one of each slips of paper with each candidates name on it (meaning that during the first round of elections on April 22 their were 10 separate slips of paper,) and a small blue envelope into the poll (there are as many blue envelopes as there are registered voters), close the curtain, and insert your candidate's slip of paper into the envelope. You then go to the voting table for your district (in Escalquens I believe they were divided into 7 or 8), present your ID, place your enevelope in a large clear locked ballot box. The voluteer at the stand verbally declares that you have voted and you sign next to your name on a register. Voilà.

After voting we had a nice long lunch then went  for a walk along the Canal du Midi, as they weren't counting votes at the local polls until 6pm, and the official tally was to be announced at 8pm. They were all laughing at me because it seemed I was more stressed about the results than they were. But seriously, imagine the ambiance at school and at home if Sarkozy won??? Sheesh.

At 6pm we went back to the polls and watched them count, yes count, by hand, the votes.One of my other colleagues, Laurence, was volunteering and showed me around so that I could take some more photos.

There are usually 3 people opening the votes, one opens the envelope, the second hands the paper inside to a third person who onfolds the slip and reads the name aloud to the 4 people who are keeping tally. There are 3 possible votes, Sarkozy, Hollande, or "blanc", meaning you have participated in the voting process but do not support either candidate. People who vote blanc can get rather creative with their votes, and I saw several "superman"s and even some (unused) squares of toilet paper...

The votes are then placed in large manilla envelopes in batches of a certain number and mailed to the Préfecture.

By 7:30pm the votes had been counted and we knew that Hollande had won in Escalquens almost 60-40 percent.

Hard at work counting votes

On television, although the journalists were not allowed to pronounce who had won before 8pm, they kept showing clips of Paris where supporters were gathered, and the ambiance gave you more than an idea of who the victor was.

The two political parties have appropriated difference squares in Paris for their rallies, Sarkozy La Place de la Concorde, and Hollande, La Place de la Bastille.

At exactly 8pm the county knew that socialist Francois Hollande was the 7th president of the 5th Republic of France with 51.60 percent of the vote. The first leftist president in 17 years. Sarkozy had won 48.10 percent.



And how do the French celebrate?

With champagne of course.


Sarkozy gave a speech to his tearful (literally)  audience who serenaded him with the Marseillaise (the French national anthem). Hollande had stayed in Tulle, where he is from and where he served as mayor, to give his victory speech then boarded a plane for Paris to give a second speech to those gathered at the Bastille.

The image of the future president addressing the people for the first time really changed from that of when Obama accepted in 2008 with Michelle and his daughters on stage at his sides, the image of the typical nuclear family. Hollande didn't bring his partner onstage with him till after his speech almost as an after thought it seemed.

And it must be said, that the frogs outdid even themselves, by having live accordian musicians onstage with Hollande at the closing of his speech. 

Enough politics, a bientôt!