Politics

Mayoral Elections

Our local elections are now done and dusted and I have at last found out exactly how they work (and at least one version of how proportional representation works).

On the first round of voting a week ago, The list with which I had been asked to help came first with 38% of the vote, the others having around 30%, 20% and 8%. Horse trading between the 2^nd and 3^rd didn't work so the bottom two lists dropped out. That left the first two in a head-to-head for the second round of voting. I didn't realise there was any right/left wing aspect to the lists but Le Monde in its national coverage had the first list classified as left-wing, the second and third as right-wing and the third as unknown or independent. So it looked as though the overall apparently majority right-wing vote might swing the head-to-head in favour of the second list. In fact, the opposite happened and the first list got in with 60% of the vote. So it would appear that most voters were not voting along political lines but were voting for individuals on the lists irrespective of their supposed political allegiance.

This is how it works after that. Since the first list has to have a majority on the new council, it automatically gets 8 of the 15 new councillors. Then since it got 60% of the vote, it also gets 60% of the remaining seven seats. Since 60% doesn't go exactly into 7 and since fractions of councillors aren't allowed (one is left to wonder, if fractions were allowed, if the head would be included in any parts selected – maybe just the spleen) the first list gets 4 more seats on the council and the remainder go to the runner-up. So that is the composition of our new council.

Press headlines were made by the success of the extreme right-wing National Front over the nation as a whole. The NF claimed that their success proved they were not simply recipients of a protest vote but were being accepted as a mainstream political party. I couldn't agree with that analysis. Extremist parties will pick up majority votes in areas where there is a great deal of social unrest in minor elections, even sometimes in major elections. However, it was obvious that parties politically opposed had combined in several cases to keep out NF candidates. This is sure to happen again in major elections and perhaps to an even greater extent. In populous areas, voting was clearly political, in less populous areas much less so. This would seem natural and, indeed, perhaps as it should be.

Who's responsible?

I recently bought a rose bush to go in my back garden and noticed that there was a sign on the packaging warning that the bush was not to be eaten. Now I can honestly say that I've never seen a rose bush on a menu anywhere (and I've been in some 60 countries throughout the world) so I presume that the vast majority of people must already know that rose bushes are not to be eaten. However, I suppose that ever since some woman successfully prosecuted MacDonalds because, when she tipped a cup of their coffee over herself, it burned her, there must be some people who don't know that hot liquid can burn. So I suppose the notice on my rose bush packaging is justified. Should anyone eat a rose bush and get a thorn stuck in their throat, they won't be able to sue the supplier; they were warned.

It's A Funny Old World

It's Funny.............

It's funny how things turn out sometimes. My small and surreptitious efforts at growing flowering plants across the road from my kitchen were, I thought, never going to amount to a great deal. Despite my fond hope that a new mayor, if it was the one who might be persuaded he owed me something, would let me turn the parking space into a flower bed was really just that: a fond hope. Unbeknown to me, neighbours Jean-Pierre and Monique and some others who had gathered at their house one evening, were discussing my gradual extension of the flowers there and hit upon an idea.

There is a bench further along the road, placed so that promenaders can sit and take in the view across the river. What if they moved that to the space in front of my house? There wouldn't be any room to park a car then and I would be free to carry on planting. So that is what they propose to do. Then I shall plant some lavender and focus more on scent; with no need of any mayoral edict; the neighbours have done it for me.

More On Elections

I played boules this afternoon with Daniel, Marie and Mana. Mana took me to task as to why I hadn't attended any of the other open meetings with mayoral election candidates. I explained that one meeting clashed with an evening when I had invited Jo and Steve to eat and the other clashed with an important foot ball match I wanted to watch. Mana wasn't impressed with my second excuse and I had to explain my priorities. I told my children when they were young that, as far as I was concerned, they could choose their politics and, if they wanted a religion, choose that too. But I wasn't having any Arsenal supporters in my house. There was only one football team that could be supported and that was Chelsea. I felt, and still feel, that it is important to get priorities right on the really important things in life.

Anyway, as it turned out, Mana was greatly unimpressed by the meetings I missed. One was apparently very poorly attended and the candidates neglected to use the microphone so Mana couldn't hear what they had to say. For Very Important Elections, only in Mollans could this happen. At the other, the candidates had decided to offer no agenda but simply said “elect us and we will discuss it”. I didn't like to ask Mana whether she had tried to establish their position on the Ukraine crisis (or the national economy, immigration or unemployment) but presume she didn't even bother.

St Patrick's Day

I went down to the Bar du Pont this evening for the usual pizza but Roberto was also doing baby chickens, so I had one of those. Interestingly, in England we know these as the French word “poussins”, which the French don't appear to use. They call them “coquelets”. Anyway, it was St Patrick's day and so the bar owner, Patrique, was celebrating. The French celebrate not only their birthdays but also the saint's day of their first name. The assumption is that you are named after a saint and, Heaven knows, there are enough of those names to go round. However, I remember a job interview I was conducting while at ICL when I wanted to verify the candidates name. I just said something like “your Christian name is Norma and your surname is xxxxxx”. The young woman tersely responded: “it's not a Christian name”. OK, I should have said first name rather than Christian name, and I've no idea what all the Normas since creation could have been doing not to get at least one saint among them, but that defensive/aggressive response set the tone for the interview and, no, she didn't get the job. A simple, “yes it's Norma but it's not actually a Christian name” might have set a different tone.

Whatever. Patrique, a Mollanais from birth who has no Irish affiliations that I am ware of, duly celebrated by buying us all a verveine, a green liqueur. Good health to Patrique!

Election Meeting

Election Meeting

The list of village councillor candidates and proposed new mayor which I mentioned in my last posting had an open meeting this Sunday evening so I went along to hear what they had to say. I wasn't expecting much but the meeting did provide some interest and merriment.

The main thread of the presentation was that the candidates promised to be always available, to openly explain all decisions and listen to what villagers had to say. That much might be expected but it did at least show that some listening had been done. The current council clearly tried to say as little as possible about the recent change of community of communes until it was a fait accompli, a point that still rankles among many villagers.

In more detail, the presentation dealt with new school legislation which adds half a day to the school week, to be devoted to sport and cultural activities, but provides no budget for it. The candidates asserted that the cost would not be large and proposed that the village budget should absorb that, so that the activities would be free to the children. Another topic was the Haute Aire, the large patch of elevated waste ground on which we play boules in the centre of the village. It is admittedly a bit of an eyesore and the proposal was to redo it as a recreation square for the village, perhaps with flower beds, etc. As long as they leave enough space for boules that will be OK. It was also proposed to upgrade the water purification station. Mollans' water has always seemed OK to me but is officially classified as of only medium quality by WHO standards, probably because of potential contamination from agriculture. Anyway, I have spring water in the fountain just outside my house.

I thought questions might be interesting but was disappointed when the first two were about car parking and noise. A woman complained about cars being parked in front of her garage and another about car noise; I wondered where she could live because there is hardly any car noise even on the village by-pass. She should live in Reading. Then there was a question on the positioning of dustbins and a woman got up and, rather than simply ask a question, went forward to grab the microphone and address everybody. She said that of course the candidates were showing themselves in their best light now (I presumed everybody already knew that) but......and I couldn't catch her question. Anyway, she was immediately shouted down by the audience and retired to her seat in a huff. There was also a lady who said she would love to organise theatrical events and give acting classes but there was no theatre in the village. How many villages of 1000 inhabitants have theatres?

It was left to Mana, dear Mana, to save the day for me. She said: “The biggest problem in the village is unemployment; what are you going to about that?” The mayoral candidate, clearly a bit taken aback, said what he could; that the council, if elected, would look favourably on any enterprise that proposed to bring employment to the village; what else could he say? I was disappointed when Mana left it that. I fully expected her to follow up saying that the national economy was a mess and what was the village council going to do about that? And what was their position on immigration and what were they doing about the crisis in the Ukraine? Ah well, another time maybe.