Elections

It's over! All the buzz and the blabla has stopped just for a few hours because in 4 weeks there will be the Legislative elections.

François Hollande is our new President. But it was close : 51% to 48%. Nicolas Sarkozy has graciously bowed out - he was the youngest president of the Republic ever in office. I think the media finally took its responsibilities seriously and tried to avoid the usual trivia, but it was hard to really follow the different candidate's proposals in the mainstream media. It often turned into mud-slinging and personal comments. Also, the French are terrible for all talking at the same time!!

A protestant ethics organisation sent out a useful summary of the 10 candidates' policies and 3 well-respected theologians wrote articles on our responsibility as Christian voters. I particularly appreciated their advice to not focus on typical ethical questions and vote accordingly because these issues are only a fraction of all the subjects to be considered. Yet we often received exhortations by other concerned Christians to vote against a candidate because of his position on homosexual marriages, for example. Only 3 candidates were against homosexual marriages and adoption; several left the door open to euthanasia being allowed; most had policies on immigration (or not); all made some reference to nuclear power stations and to environmental issues. The big topic was creating employment and avoiding a full-blown economic crisis. One or two talked about leaving the Euro-zone or even quitting the European Union. Several talked of justice and equality, but had different ways of seeing those values put into practice.

Frankly, there was nothing particularly new and I found myself being quite cynical. Several seemed very sincere, but in their own world. Others talked blithely of change, but anyone with some knowledge of how things work in France would be able to see that talking is one thing but actually bringing about change is a totally different ball game. Many people in France still speak and believe along party lines. Our systems haven't really changed or taken into account that our mentalities have.

We need a new approach to running the country - I remember how much Australians talked of consensus when I still lived there. Lionel Jospin is the only Prime Minister of France who had that approach and I thought he was good (except that he supported the 35 hour week which was a big mistake). Nicolas Sarkozy thought out of the mould and made some very interesting choices for his Ministerial cabinet. But as the elections got closer and as certain of his choices made sure people knew they didn't always agree with their President, these people were re-shuffled or shown the door.

Let's pray particularly for honest and lucid leaders. Let's pray that the people of France in all their diversity will have the will to work together for the common good, at least being prepared to discuss intelligently the different options they have and respecting each other's differences.