24.2.07

The Condorcet Paradox and the French Presidential Elections

This blog will be one of my main references for the coming French Presidential Elections in which me and my family will cast three votes. Smart, incisive, objective and witty. Enjoy !

Read here what Condorcet has to do with the dynamic of the elections campaign. Here on the three Sarko. Here on Ségo. Here on Bayrou's last minute entry in the election race and the Larousse.

Please scroll the page to read the posts on the referred blog.

2 comments:

Moussa Bashir said...

I regret not paying attention in those few French classes I had. Would you be translating or at least summarizing some of the interesting articles. I'm studying some French now, my 6 yr old son is the teacher but I'm still at grade 1 level.

cheers
:-)

Sophia said...

Moussa,

There is a lot to tell. beside translating some of the interesting articles in Le Monde on Iran, I am now following the French presidential elections. I wasn't going to vote for Sarko neither for Ségo. Both have been quite disappointing. Bayrou, although traditionnally from the right hs taken a fresh approach to domestic and international poltiics. he had the courage to recognise that the left and the right are artificial divisions, that he is going to work with the left if elected. You see Bayrou represents old france, the france that is confident in itself and its inetrnational role. he is not dogmatic and he is genuinly a principled man. I don't care if he comes from the right and the fact that his party has not been in power sionce Giscard is an advantage. I will post soon a video of him explaining his politics toward nuclear activity. Contrary to sarko and Ségo who are claiming for example that iran does not have the right to develop nuclear energy for civil purposes, he makes his point clear that there are international treaties and that we should work within both to help countries, any country, to develop nuclear civil energy and at the same time to control prolifearation and eventually curb nuclear weapons development. Of course he condemns Ahmadi-Nejads rethoric but that does not prevent him from affirming that iran has the right to nuclear civil energy and that the problem is not Iran but multiple standrads for the development of this energy at the international level.

Now the Condorcet Paradox: When you have two main contenders for the elections, as long as they fight each other, they will weaken each other while reinforcing the third contender. And when they will both attack the third contender there is a chance that they will reinforce hinm also becvause they are giving him too much covergae and attention.

Bayrou's rise in the polls is due to this simple paradox named after Condorcet the great French Political philosopher. This is why there should be multiple political alternatives in a democracy and not a bipolar division like in the US.

I believ in Bayrou,s rationality and ability to lead and niot be lead by lobbying groups once he is a president, contrary to unpricipled and ambitious people like sarko and Ségo.

Glad you visited, I liked very much your latest livraison of this week in Globalvoices and read most of it.

Make sure your son learns French. A language is an extension of the mind. There is no age to learn a new language. I have been learning Spanish recently and enjoying it very much.

Take care,

Sophia

 
Since March 29th 2006