Upcoming Presidential elections in France

Tonight on TF1 ( the main French TV network), there was a live interview with Ségolène Royal, the Socialist party candidate for the French presidential election in just a few weeks.

Royal is the first woman to be nominated for President of France that has a legitimate chance to win the overall election. François Hollande, her long-term companion, is president of the Socialist party in France.

Her primary opponent is Nicolas Sarkozy, who currently would win the election if it was today, at least according to the polls. Sarkozy is like a Rudolph Giulianni in being a "zero tolerance" type of person.

When I first arrived in France in 1988, Socialist François Mitterand has just been reelected as President for a second 7 year term. I was here in 1995 when RPR candidate and former Paris mayor Jacques Chirac defeated Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin for a 7 year term. During that term, the term length got changed from 7 to 5 years for the 2002 election. In the first round of the 2002 election, Chirac had the largest percentage of votes, while Front National candidate Jean-Marie LePen surprisingly had more votes than Socialist Lionel Jospin. Two weeks later, Chirac trounced LePen in a strange election where Communists and Socialists voted for Chirac, even though his party tends to have different priorities than the RPR.

Now, this current 5 year term is about done and the presidential campaign is going at full speed. As Chirac is not planning to run, I expect to have my 3rd different French President.

Barring some changes in the upcoming weeks, I am guessing that the polls are right and that Sarkozy will be elected the next President.

Granted, both candidates have their strengths and weaknesses. Because I prefer a smaller government and a freer economy, if I had the right to vote (which I don't), I would likely vote for him. He also seems open to churches and other religious associations having more influence on society.

However, I don't think that you really know whom you elected until that person takes office for awhile, whether that be France, the U.S., or wherever. I trust that the Lord's hand is part of this whole campaign procedure and that He will somehow be guiding whomever the next President is, just as He did with King Nebuchadnezzar, King Darius, King Cyrus, etc. in the Old Testament.