French Presidential Election 22 April 2007 Thread

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Latest CSA poll:

That doesn't look too bad,there is still hope that Sarkozy might lose...
And,anyway,the fact that someone like Le Pen gets 15% and more only confirms my opinion on France...

[SPQR]

Latest CSA poll:

That doesn't look too bad,there is still hope that Sarkozy might lose...
And,anyway,the fact that someone like Le Pen gets 15% and more only confirms my opinion on France...

Give your country 5-10 years and the British National Party will win seats in Parliament.

I live in England but I am Italian,and thankfully the fascists don't win seat in our parliament.We got the Lega Nord,but it's losing a lot of its appeal.And there is no way someone like Le Pen would get 15% in Italy.

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But, dpes Italy have the same immigration/integration problems that France has? Like the 2005 riots?

We got plenty of illegal immigrants every year,but the most important "racist party" only gets 5% and will get less and less in the next elections.

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What is the Alleanza Nazionale (12% of the vote last election) if it's not Fascist? Sure, not as bad as Le Pen and Co., but still...

Fini,Alleanza Nazionale's leader,is as fascist as Sarkozy or Bush might be...
Lewis Trondheim,FI and AN's views are not NEARLY as extremist as Le Pen's or as Lega Nord's.

[SPQR]

What is the Alleanza Nazionale (12% of the vote last election) if it's not Fascist? Sure, not as bad as Le Pen and Co., but still...

Fini,Alleanza Nazionale's leader,is as fascist as Sarkozy or Bush might be...

Bush? That's not exactly comforting.

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Yes... it's not just issue positions I'm thinking of, but, you know, a party's general style. I've always felt that those critizicing Berlusconi only for his involvement with the silly posturings of the Lega and the Fascist heritage of the AN (and the AN is NOT exactly what the MSI used to be. They wouldn't be as successful as they are otherwise.) were missing the point. The whole way FI is set up, the whole core persona of Berlusconi himself... that guy should not have a place in something as supposedly mainstream and MOR as the European People's Party.

Bush is an idiot,not a fascist.
And I absolutely agree about what you say on Berlusconi,Forza Italia might well be called "Forza Berlusconi" as it's gonna collapse as soon as the "evil midget",as it's called in Italy,is gonna retire.

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9 days before the first turn and false (or not) rumors begin to fly in the political sky. The last in date would be a poll realized by "les renseignements généraux" (secret services who have the mission to informe government on the state of france. In politics too.) who would give Sarkozy first and Bayrou and le Pen fighting for the second place. royal out.

This info is given by the nouvel obs, a newpaper who supports royal.

I hope it's done so to rally socialists to go and vote Royal...i could never stand a Sarkozy-Le Pen runoff.

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There is something quite ironic about Italians referring to their country having nothing to do with Fascists (nowadays of course).  Just slightly amused.

Unfortunately our country still does have fascists,but nothing compared to the 15% and more Le Pen gets.

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What is the Alleanza Nazionale (12% of the vote last election) if it's not Fascist? Sure, not as bad as Le Pen and Co., but still...

Fini,Alleanza Nazionale's leader,is as fascist as Sarkozy or Bush might be...
Lewis Trondheim,FI and AN's views are not NEARLY as extremist as Le Pen's or as Lega Nord's.

I think Italy's problem is more their youths base on what I see in some soccer games. Watched a tape of Catania-Palermo...dear God it was like watching a civil war in a third-world country.

And then I had a debate with a Reggina fan that told me it was all instigated by the police and organized by Berlusconi and the police deserved what they got. I take it he was an ultra communist or something, but he definitely, and not in the joking sense, wanted to take a gun and go shoot people in Rome when they banned all games. Then there's the more knowledgeable (and less radical) Italian soccer fans say that's typical of all youths in Italy, they're either hard-left or hard-right with little in between due to the country's malaise, complete lack of leadership and responsibility from anyone in the country (with Berlusconi and Prodi both taking the blame according to them), alongside increasing unemployment. Good thread: http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=474214

After hearing a bunch of Italians talk about Italy (they live there, not New Jersey descendants), and taking into account the whole mafia situation in the South, I'm not so sure if Italy is still a first-world country to be honest. That, and the descriptions from my dad when he had to go to Naples for a couple weeks in spring 2003 before he had to go to Iraq. Naples he said was an absolute dump. I told him over the phone Naples is pretty much the Detroit of Europe.

To be fair, after he got out of Iraq he went to a military base in Sicily, which he absolutely loved (he's from Indiana, and Sicily reminded him a lot of Indiana).

You got two of Italy's problems:violence in soccer and mafia.The violence due to the football games is a few idiot's fault,but I admit it's also a cultural problem,as there are always people going to the stadium hoping to beat someone up. THe Reggina fan you talked with must be insane or somethin',thankfully his views are not everyone's views.
About the South and mafia:in Italy every 2 years or so there is a great political discussion about how to "save" it,some money is given to the southern regions and then everything is kept quiet,politically,until there is some new crisis. It's always been like this and I can't see it change unfortunately.Mafia is too much into politics,especially locally, for something serious to be done against it.I am not saying most politicians are linked with mafia,but Sicily's governor and Berlusconi are known to have been,for example.
And Naples is just like the south:plenty of problems,few solutions.Recently the situation has improved,though.



I am afraid we are a bit off topic.

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Which candidate should a high turnout benefit?