I know that I am going 50% off my focus of writing posts about travel in Europe but at least it is about France. Arnold of Foreign Perspectives, who now lives in France, told me that a French website was looking for posts about the forthcoming French Presidential elections from an outsider’s angle. I thought sounds interesting, could get my blog some publicity and there are 30 prizes of podcasting equipment. So below is my offering. I just hope that the French will appreciate my sense of humour.

The forthcoming French Presidential elections have not whipped up great interest public interest in the UK. The Presidential elections raise a couple of interesting points for me personally, feminism and the internet, both connected to the socialist candidate, Segolene Royal, nicknamed Sego.

Firstly does France really hanker for it’s first female president? It would be seen as a breakthrough in the rather macho world of French politics where only 12% of deputies are female. Royal’s popularity soared after a former male rival, posed the question, “Who will look after the children?”, when it became clear that Royal was a seriouscontender in the elections. I had to laugh at the press coverage givento Royal’s choice of high heeled shoes during a visit to the slums of Chile. There always seems to be such scrutiny of the way femalepoliticians dress and look in comparision to male politicians’ attire and appearance. A woman can’t win, she will either be criticised as frumpy, or if well turned out, as having paid too much attention toher appearance. Some say that Royal looks better now than she did 20 years ago in her early 30s. Photos from that period show her looking a bit dowdy, her face swamped behind large glasses and hair scrapped back from her face. As Royal has quipped, “Why should you have to be boring and ugly to succeed in politics?”

Then there were the photos of Royal in her bikini, I say a great figure for a 50+ mother of four. Royal has been is in a long tern relationshipwith Francois Hollande, the chairman of the French socialist party. Hollande is credited with converting the Catholic Conservative Royal to Socialism. Royal is sticking to her feminist ideals by remaining unmarried, or is she really a Catholic rebel? You could also say that her rise to prominence has overshadowed her partner’s career, a touch of “A Star in Born”? Earlier this year one of her advisors was relieved of duties after saying that Hollande was the only defect in Royal’s campaign. Royal has also been slated for her lack of substance and policies which leads me to the next point, her use of the internet.

According to Le Monde, 27 million French use the internet every day and 40% say that the internet is their main source of political information. Postings on political blogs often receive between 400 – 500 comments. Royal has been an exponent of participative democracy in her “Desires for the Future” where she encourages citizens to submit ideas on the how the country should be run to local committees or herwebsite. These 150 committees are encouraged to start their own blogs. Interestingly her youth website Segosphere is run by her eldest son, a bit of nepotism in the brave new world? Royal claims to be harnessing the collective intelligence and it is the first time that public input has been used to design a manifesto. Royal believes in citizens providing bottom up solutions rather then politicians imposing top down solutions. She claims to base her policies on the realities of peoples’ lives. Critics scorn her approach as populist, which they use in the negative sense of indulging the whims of the electorate in a superficial manner. However another definition of populist is the advocation of democratic principles which is surely a laudable aim.

I say that the proof of the (Sego) pudding will be in the eating. If Royal is elected, will she to continue to be an exponent of participative democracy which entails talking and listening to citizens at all times, not merely during elections? She talks of initiatives such as randomly selected citizens’juries to monitor Government policy. However monitor does not necessarily mean influence. Will her grass roots policies, encompassed in her 100 proposals, be achievable in the real world?