French President Emmanuel Macron has dissolved the lower house of parliament and announced fresh elections after his party's poor performance in the EU elections.
France has a slightly odd election system, where the vote for president is a free-for-all initially, and then the top two candidates face off.
He’s currently the second largest party, so he’s banking on being the contender against Le Pen for president, hoping that the left, center and moderate right help him win again (because Le Pen would be worse than he’d be).
It’s not a terrible strategy, but it is a little risky.
Odd comparing to what? Two rounds is the way to ensure the president has a majority: first you vote for who you want, second time you veto. This is how you elect presidents in countries like France, Brazil, Romania, Portugal…it makes sense :)
PS: Macron did not resign, these are not presidential elections, this is a legislative election only.
The top two candidates may be quite polarising for example, whereas a 3rd candidate might be acceptable to all. Or there could be a large group of quite mediocre candidates.
It’s not bad way per sé, but it’s basically a band-aid around FPTP, instead of fixing the problem properly.
France has a slightly odd election system, where the vote for president is a free-for-all initially, and then the top two candidates face off.
He’s currently the second largest party, so he’s banking on being the contender against Le Pen for president, hoping that the left, center and moderate right help him win again (because Le Pen would be worse than he’d be).
It’s not a terrible strategy, but it is a little risky.
Better to move quickly when risks are high and outcomes uncertain.
Odd comparing to what? Two rounds is the way to ensure the president has a majority: first you vote for who you want, second time you veto. This is how you elect presidents in countries like France, Brazil, Romania, Portugal…it makes sense :)
PS: Macron did not resign, these are not presidential elections, this is a legislative election only.
The top two candidates may be quite polarising for example, whereas a 3rd candidate might be acceptable to all. Or there could be a large group of quite mediocre candidates.
It’s not bad way per sé, but it’s basically a band-aid around FPTP, instead of fixing the problem properly.
Actually you can never vote for what you want, unless it has a decent chance to make it to the second turn. The condorcet method would allow it.