Hollande
Fools rush in
Many glum faces?
No1 glum!
As they say 'fools rush in' but following the 'success' of François Hollande there's a great deal to ponder. Yes it's true there's no real winner yet so to award him the French Presidency now would be wrong but there's no harm in seeing what we have got so far and taking it further. All countries, not least France, have their political traditions and the serving President seeking re-election is, if they are to win, generally doing better than Nicolas Sarkozy is now. There is also the performance of Marine Le Pen. Pretending that her political platform only appeals to a few nutters is not going to work any more. So it's interesting to see the Guardian facing up to this -
A key victory of the night was for the Front National's Le Pen, who came third with around 18% of the vote, beating her father Jean-Marie's record success in 2002, and placing herself firmly at the heart of right-wing politics in France. She said "the battle of France has just begun" and "nothing will be the same again".
