As you may or may not know, the French presidential elections just happened yesterday. They are by far the most dramatic event I have ever seen in France, seconded by the presidential debates.
First a little general knowledge: voting in France happens Sunday from 8AMish- 6PM precisely. To vote you take a piece of paper for Hollande and a piece for Sarkozy and an envelope. You go in a little voting booth like in the US and put one paper in the envelope. Then after signing your name and all that stuff, you drop your envelope in a clear box that someone opens and closes. At 6PM they count all the votes and any that are empty, or double stuffed, are invalid. Fun fact, France had 80% participation this year. Impressive compared to the US, no?
So. I went downstairs at 7:55 to watch the grand reveal. And grand it was. They count down to their elections like we count down to New Year's. There were newscasters all over France with the crowds from both parties and the newscasters in the room for France 2 (news channel here). They counted down like crazy. And we have two minutes left. One and half. One. THIRTY SECONDS. Then the news room got dark except for the lit up French flag on the floor. Then on the screen a picture of the Palais de l'Elysée showed up and a red carpet began unrolling from the gates to the front door. Dramatic music. Rolling carpet. It reaches the front door and BAM! Picture of Hollande. I was mildly stunned, I didn't think it would actually happen, but it did.
Afterwards we saw Hollande's supporters jumping up and down and yelling and cheering and crying. They had "FH" painted on their faces and "PS" for the socialist party. It was like a crazy sports event. Soon after we see Sarkozy's supporters. They all have their umbrellas up and all you see is a huge crowd of people covered with umbrellas. It was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. I can only assume it was umbrellas of defeat? Covering their shameful faces? It was definitely not raining so I guess they were symbolic. And among the crowd of umbrellas there were people waving white surrender flags. Very weird.
Then a little later Sarkozy came out to gave his 'defeat' speech. When he walked out people started booing and yelling-- but mind you, these are his supporters. He gives a nice speech about how he takes responsibility (they boo), how he lost in a democratic election so that's good (they boo), thanks them for their support, all those good things. He also tells them to be good French people and stay united and act proud-- unlike what the opposing party would have done if they had lost. Oh, snarky Sarko. Then they start cheering and yelling "Vive la France" and continue to cry and yell. Then they start singing La Marseillaise and waving French flags and I got some goosebumps because it was kind of creepy and rebellion like.
I didn't get to see Hollande's winning speech, he took forever to show up and I had to study for my test today and get some sleep. Anyways, who knows what this will bring for France. There are good parts and bad parts to it. In the words of the French, on verra.
First a little general knowledge: voting in France happens Sunday from 8AMish- 6PM precisely. To vote you take a piece of paper for Hollande and a piece for Sarkozy and an envelope. You go in a little voting booth like in the US and put one paper in the envelope. Then after signing your name and all that stuff, you drop your envelope in a clear box that someone opens and closes. At 6PM they count all the votes and any that are empty, or double stuffed, are invalid. Fun fact, France had 80% participation this year. Impressive compared to the US, no?
So. I went downstairs at 7:55 to watch the grand reveal. And grand it was. They count down to their elections like we count down to New Year's. There were newscasters all over France with the crowds from both parties and the newscasters in the room for France 2 (news channel here). They counted down like crazy. And we have two minutes left. One and half. One. THIRTY SECONDS. Then the news room got dark except for the lit up French flag on the floor. Then on the screen a picture of the Palais de l'Elysée showed up and a red carpet began unrolling from the gates to the front door. Dramatic music. Rolling carpet. It reaches the front door and BAM! Picture of Hollande. I was mildly stunned, I didn't think it would actually happen, but it did.
Afterwards we saw Hollande's supporters jumping up and down and yelling and cheering and crying. They had "FH" painted on their faces and "PS" for the socialist party. It was like a crazy sports event. Soon after we see Sarkozy's supporters. They all have their umbrellas up and all you see is a huge crowd of people covered with umbrellas. It was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. I can only assume it was umbrellas of defeat? Covering their shameful faces? It was definitely not raining so I guess they were symbolic. And among the crowd of umbrellas there were people waving white surrender flags. Very weird.
Then a little later Sarkozy came out to gave his 'defeat' speech. When he walked out people started booing and yelling-- but mind you, these are his supporters. He gives a nice speech about how he takes responsibility (they boo), how he lost in a democratic election so that's good (they boo), thanks them for their support, all those good things. He also tells them to be good French people and stay united and act proud-- unlike what the opposing party would have done if they had lost. Oh, snarky Sarko. Then they start cheering and yelling "Vive la France" and continue to cry and yell. Then they start singing La Marseillaise and waving French flags and I got some goosebumps because it was kind of creepy and rebellion like.
I didn't get to see Hollande's winning speech, he took forever to show up and I had to study for my test today and get some sleep. Anyways, who knows what this will bring for France. There are good parts and bad parts to it. In the words of the French, on verra.
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