les Resultats

The Results:

The top two are Nicolas Sarkozy (31.11%, the major party on the right) and Sègolene Royal (25.83%, the major party on the left). These two will face off during the Deuxieme Tour exactly two weeks from yesterday, on May 5th. I'm very much looking forward to their first public debate, on May 2nd. Overall I think this is good news for France in that the two major parties --each with a different program--are both represented. Furthermore, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who during the 2002 Election surprisingly came in 2nd, was relegated to 4th place with less than 11% of the vote. Finally, an astounding 85% of eligible citizens voted. That's pretty impressive when compared with our numbers in the U.S.

In completely unrelated news, I'm posting this incredibly blog-worthy photo of myself and Claire taken by Nir. Apparently there is a Mr. T look-a-like who does a one-man comedy show which is heavily advertised in Metro stations all over the place.