The French political system has been described as a gerontocracy, in other words a society ruled by old men. This description could equally apply to authoritarian governments around the world. The ‘old boy network’ helps to maintain the status quo, where privilege and wealth are tickets to political power.
Emmanuel Macron is a 39 year old, former Socialist,running for President in France. His style is similar to Obama’s. En Marche! has the marketing appeal of ‘Yes we can’ with the additional excitement of an exclamation mark. Not only that, but En Marche! is the name of his focus group/party/think tank – delete as appropriate. His researchers widely canvassed the electorate to ask what works? and what doesn’t work? With that in mind, the party’s policies have been crafted for mass appeal.
He projects an image of anti-establishment, a man of the people, and is tetchy when quizzed about his privileged private education and investment banker past. His campaign aims to have broad appeal to disgruntled Socialists and those on the right. He is trying to appeal to business leaders with talk of relaxing employment legislation which could see an end to the 35 hour week.
Current Pesident, François Hollande, is encouraging voters to steer clear of Le Pen. Let’s hope they do!
odespinner 