Presidential Election in France: Ségo vs. Sarko

France is buzzing with la politique. The Presidential election has generated unprecedented interest across the country-- from cosmopolitan Paris to the smallest, quaint villages. There was massive voter participation in the first round yesterday; 85-87% of France's registered voters cast ballots, a mind-boggling turn-out. Bloggers had their fingers on the pulse of the national mood (as France is a country of bloggers, with the highest per capita number of bloggers worldwide), describing the popular fixation on the race. As folks frantically sought news of the election-- through SMS, MSN messenger, blogs, traditional news sources like TV and radio, every available technology-- blogs went down because of the high levels of traffic.

Pierre's family voted ensemble in La Chapelle-Saint-Laurent. The voting system seemed simple and fool-proof. Candidates names were printed in bold letters on 12 separate pieces of paper. Each voter shuffled through the line to select the papers, ducked into a voting booth, slipped the piece of paper with their chosen candidate into an envelope, and then dropped the envelope into the ballot box after showing their official election registration card and signing the voter list.

But we noticed something strange at this small regional voting outpost: José Bové's name was missing from the stacks of votes outside the booths. Voters had a choice of only 11 of the 12 candidates. And in France, voters are not allowed to write in the names of candidates as we are in the U.S. (A safety precaution against election fraud.) I have been fascinated by the French election in comparison with the U.S. system. I have been impressed with the leveling of the playing field: the limits on campaign spending, the careful mediation of media attention, the absence of political ads on TV (what a relief to not have to suffer through a season of attack ads).

But it seemed strange that Bové's name was missing from the candidate list because-- apparently-- he didn't bother to provide the funds for it. (Note: For the photo at right, Pierre dashed out to the car to grab a Bové ballot. Each French voter receives a stack of ballots in the mail, along with literature on each candidate. The brochures are the same exact size, the same paper quality-- another example of the leveled playing field.)

France is passionate about politics. But the record numbers at the polls yesterday were not a sign of passion for a particular candidate. Indeed, news outlets were predicting a toss-up ("Anything can happen!") because of the large numbers of undecided voters. Pierre was still debating his choice minutes before he dropped his vote in the ballot box. Rather, many French citizens wanted to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing 2002 election, when Le Pen succeeded in advancing to the second round because the left's voting block was split by myriad smaller candidates. This time, many voters from the left banded together to cast their vote for the Socialist Ségolène Royal and assure that Le Pen could not advance to the next round. (Le Pen has a loyal contingent of voters. He received 10.5% of the vote yesterday.)

I've been disappointed in the NY Times coverage of the race because of their failure to talk about Bayrou, the centrist candidate, who came in third yesterday with 18.8% of the vote. For me, Bayrou has become a symbol of French dissatisfation with the traditional, competing left-right divide in politics. Bayrou, the independent with roots on the farm, offered a new, non-partisan way of governing, bridging the gap between parties.

Let the show-down begin. In two weeks, after the run-off election on May 6, France will determine its future course, perhaps with its first woman president.

Update: Electoral malfunctions are not limited to the grand state of Florida. It turns out that La Chapelle Saint-Laurent's votes were disqualified because of the mix-up with Bové's ballots. C'est dommage.