French Election

Sunday was the premier tour (first round) of France's presidential election. To get on the ballot one needs to get signatures from 500 elected officials (e.g., mayors, representatives, etc.), and this year 10 candidates qualified.

The results of the first round were as follows:

 - François Holland (Socialist, center-left): 29%

 - Nikolas Sarkozy (UMP, center-right): 27%

 - Marine Le Pen (National Front, far-right): 18%

 - Jean-Luc Mélenchon (Left Front, far-left): 11%

 - François Bayrou (Democratic Movement, center): 9%
 - Other: 6%

Note: The use of "left" and "right" above is based on the classification used by the French. I'm not sure exactly where Democrats and Republicans would fit on the above spectrum, though it's safe to say that, on average, the "center" in France would skew a bit more towards the "left" in the U.S.

As none of the candidates received a 50% majority, the top two candidates -- in this case Holland and the incumbent Sarkozy -- will compete in the deuxième tour (second round) a week from this Sunday. The winner in that vote will be president.

It's worth highlighting that voter turnout was 80%, which is apparently typical for French presidential elections. This puts the U.S. to shame as turnout for the 2008 presidential election in the U.S. was only around 62%.