This Sunday, France will elect a new president in a process that might strike most Americans as highly unusual, largely for the fact that the campaign for France’s highest office will have lasted only a couple of months.

On April 2, when Democrat Barack Obama appeared on a stage at Keene State College, he was speaking to citizens who wouldn’t vote in their presidential primary for nearly a year, and wouldn’t cast a ballot for president until a full 10 months after that.

As a student at Keene State College who comes from a community not far from Paris, I’ve noticed several other ways the two different democracies go about electing their leaders.

There are similarities, of course. France has two major parties, as does the United States. In Sunday’s election, the Union for Parliamentary Majority will be represented by Nicolas Sarkozy and the Socialist Party will be represented by Ségolène Royal.
Two weeks ago those two candidates emerged from a first round of national voting that involved 12 candidates.

The finalists have different philosophies. Sarkozy wants to decrease the national debt by 50 percent and bring unemployment from 9 to 5 percent. Royal, who is the first woman ever to get this far in presidential politics in France, wants to invest more money into education, justice and social programs.

In the preliminary election, all sorts of other views were represented. A whole set of parties had their own candidates.

From the Communist party to the National Front, these two being the extremes of the French political spectrum, voters can find ecologists, centrists, and even revolutionists.

François Bayrou, who represents the Union for French Democracy, gathered 18 percent of the votes in the first round. His ideas are a mix of both of Sarkozy’s and Royal’s policies, and he has decided to let his supporters choose whom they want to vote for.

How candidates get their names on ballots in France is quite different from the American method. In the U.S. anyone willing to spend time and money on a campaign can do it. The French way is significantly different on this point.

First, anyone willing to run needs to gather 500 signatures from people that have been elected, so mayors, regional and European representatives are extremely coveted by aspiring candidates. Each of these elected representatives can only give his signature to a single candidate, but with more than 36,000 cities in the country, that makes around 40,000 potential signatures.

These signatures need to be submitted to the Constitutional Council by the end of March; the deadline this year was March 17.

Five hundred signatures may look like a small number considering how many potential signatures may be gathered, but every five years, there are candidates struggling with this requirement.

Most of them are representing small political orientations, and only try to make their voice heard on a nationwide plan.

José Bové, a farmer with a long history of destroying farms using genetically modified crops managed to gather only 510 signatures, but it was enough to be allowed to be a part of the race.

The presidential campaign officially starts 13 days before election day. Voting takes place on Sundays, and campaigning for the first round of elections ends on the preceding Friday at 11:59 p.m.

During this time, equity is ensured between all candidates, implying a restricted control of billboards use — posters of all candidates are displayed one next to the other — and equal airing time on televisions or radio stations.

Another major difference between the U.S. presidential campaign and the French one is the way meeting are held.

When Obama spoke to 2,000 people at Keene State, his audience included people who were not necessarily Democrats. In France, the audiences of meetings held by candidates are almost exclusively composed of members of the party, people who are convinced enough to donate and get really involved.

Lectures in front of an audience that may not be completely receptive to the candidate’s ideas, such as those that occur here, are totally inconceivable in France.

I was in Obama’s audience in March, and it was not so different from what I was expecting.

Loud music, cheers of the crowd and handshakes are common as well in France, but when politicians in France give speeches, they more often lecture than actually engage the crowds by taking questions.

Campaign finance marks another difference. Presidential campaigns cost money in France as well, and limits on spending are set to reduce the disparities between runners.

Candidates can set their budget as they wish, as long as the cost of their campaign does not exceed 16 million euros (about $20 million), with a possible extension to 20 million ($25 million) if they are going to the second round.

However, the government refunds up to eight million euros ($10 million) if the candidate gathers more than 5 percent of the votes.

Furthermore, in France, campaigns cannot be sponsored in any way by companies. Only individuals and political parties can contribute to the cost of the campaign. These donations are also highly regulated.

Sarkozy and Royal already announced a cost of about 20 million euros ($25 million), making their campaigns the most expensive ever seen in France.

Estimates for the total costs of campaigns in the 2008 U.S. presidential race exceed $1 billion.

FOLLOW UP: Sarkozy won the election with 53 percent of the vote

Yann Jules, a sophomore majoring in journalism at Keene State College, lives in Drancy, France.



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