To say a massive well done to the people of France...

[MrsBennetsPoorNerves]

For telling the far right National Rally to fuck off to the far side of fuck!!!

So relieved!

History says otherwise. There are rows and rows of graves in Normandy that testify to what binds us. We may also come to each other's aid soon. The UK may soon have no nuclear deterrent. We may well reach an agreement with France to rearm us. We may also reach reciprocal agreement to place each others forces under the others control under WW3.

@TwigletsAndRadishes agree too, hard to see how this is a good result for France.

Essentially, Macron has done a deal that has let a sabre tooth tiger into Parliament in order to try to keep out an XL Bully. It’s nothing to celebrate. The PM has resigned and some papers are reporting that Macron may resign too.

It’s a sorry mess that France favours two extremist parties (Le Pen’s Rassemblement National and Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise) over centrist parties. It tells us a lot about government failures to address the needs of the electorate. Happy people with hope don’t vote for extremists.

The European elections are what brought Macron to call a snap election, far right was up front! (Presuming you know this, @Wishfulthinking1977 but I don’t know if others on here do)

The Front Populaire had a pro-EU manifesto, so... Nothing Mélanchon can do. Most deputés who won for the FP were not from Mélanchon's party either, so he is far from having a mandate for his own opinions

We live in France and I am SO relieved. I felt really glum this last few weeks thinking what is going on here and this is such an amazing thing. I think that having two rounds is a really good idea - it forces people to think twice, and it forces people to really think about what they want. I can’t help but feel in the UK it always seems like such snap decisions which here is somewhat more balanced by asking people to think and then think again unless the first outcome is very certain.

We don’t have the right to vote in France (even though we have unlimited right to remain) makes you feel hopeless and not ‘part’ of the big choices- so I am relieved people have rejected the far right. Also v happy for our new prime minister in the uk!

I voted YABU, not because I wanted LePen to win but because of the reasons outlined here. Neither option was good and France will lose either way.

It is a thing to use the first round to send a message and then go back to one of the big two parties for the second round.
However since 2002, when the far right went to the second round for the first time at a presidential election, there is a big patriotic feeling about forgetting about divides and voting for whoever is against them at the second round. Not as much as 2002, when they were defeated at only 18% but still very much alive.

They were all either in 2016 or before. If you are saying though that they contributed to the rise of the far right (the National Rally party), I see your point and agree with you.

Yes I did understand that, I really was just pointing out how things can change very quickly. Acknowledgement of both sides of the coin really needs to be sorted to stop any massive FAR whatever side buggering it up!

@BishyBarnyBee@BishyBarnyBee well that poster could be anyone.
But they did say they had lost relatives in nazi camps and in communist ones.
The far hard left meet in the middle with the far right.

As a French living in the UK (settled status), the feeling is shared! Especially at the moment with the UK election… We voted for the French one though, French abroad get to perk of online voting that you don’t have if you live in France :)

At least we get to vote for local elections (you do too - I think?)

You know, there are certain demographics where hatred is justified because they’re vile, evil people and far right fascists definitely fall into that group? God forbid we begin to “tolerate” them.

Absolutely! We only have to look at the history of Europe for that.

what horrific events since 2016?

Here you go, a fairly steady stream:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_France#21st_century

But the table there shows a big reduction in terrorist incidents in France from 2016 onwards - which seems to be the opposite of what you're saying?

@FyodorDForever No, Brits in France don't have the right to vote in any elections. (Unless dual nationals of course.)

Exactly.

The major terrorist attscks were in 2015 (Bataclan and Charlie Hebdo) and 2016 (Nice lorry terrorist attack). What I mean by ‘major’ attacks is that they killed and injured many people.

The other ones listed in your link were terrible, of course, but they had much fewer victims so I wouldn’t describe them as major @LordPercyPercy.

?? Samuel Paty was murdered in 2020, Dominique Bernard last year.

Edit to say, le Pen has done a very good publicity job given how anti much of the population was of her father. She booted him out, sensibly and has done a cracking job to get to 33% in the first round. I can’t remember Jean-Marie’s highest, 18%? Dunno. I think appointing Bardella has been key, everywhere he goes, people want selfies with him.

There is going to be a huge amount of social and political instability that could potentially bring France to the brink of a civil war.

I am just curious why civil war seems to be the go to for some posters ? Why civil war and not a glut of satire or comedy ? Why not people finding common ground ? It seems a huge leap to jump straight to civil war ? Most people have plenty of other things to keep them busy don't they ?

I'll never forget the Bataclan attack, didn't 150 people loose their lives that night. Of course all the attacks are awful.

It was a absolutely horrific time I remember walking into supermarkets trying to hide the endless front pages of beheading or people in organge jump suits etc from my small dc.

Those weren’t ’major’ attacks though.
They were terrible, but they had much fewer victims than the Bataclan or Nice terrorist attacks, so I wouldn’t describe them as major.

The RN sounded like they were back-pedalling on the laws about dual citizens over the last few days, as they were (rightly) proving unpopular... It's terrible to be feeling under fire as a foreigner in the country you live in, a real blight. I hope things change for the better over the next few years

Because it’s easier for people to imagine chaos and tragedy, when there is already tension and unpleasantness, rather than imagining humour and togetherness.

I never said "major" so I'm not sure why two posters think I did. I said there have been a stream of attacks since 2016. I presume the security forces have got better at stopping the larger ones but obviously it's harder in lone wolf scenarios.