some positive news: the prospects of defeating Le Pen in France in the runoff look much higher than they did after the first round, as third place finishers actually dropped out in most competitive districts
FRANCE UPDATE: The near-final list of candidates who are in the French runoffs is out.
Two days ago, 311 districts were going to have 3-way or 4-way runoffs.
Then, 200+ candidates dropped out to block far-right.
So: There'll be "just" 91 such runoffs this coming Sunday.
My understanding from relatives there is that this is a pretty common and expected thing to happen there - right does well in round 1, but not after that.
it is but the right did far better in the first round than ever and usually it’s the left dropping out - there was no guarantee that the Macronists would
most of them did, thankfully
As a french citizen, it feels so weird reading about home politics from abroad: it's the biggest tell about how fucked we are... Everyone around me is exhausted
Proof the GOP has no actual patriots:
If Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio had dropped out after Trump won his first state because those two split the "relatively sane GOP" vote, 1 of them would've been President. But neither wanted to give up & kept splitting the vote & Trump won, and here we are now.
I was in France for work 20 years ago and heard then about the previous time Front National did so well in the first round
Voter apathy was at a high for that round
Absolute low for the second, because no one wanted Jean-Marie Le Pen
Seems to be a pattern
Also reminded me of the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election wherein the only reason Edwards won a 4th term (while indicted for a host of crimes) was because his opponent in the race was David Duke
"Vote for the Crook, Not the Duke" et al.
