A very important day in France

Today is the first round of voting for the French Presidential elections 2012. Yes they vote on a Sunday in France. Weird, nothing else is done on this supposedly sacred day, but it's OK to vote?!
I have no idea when other countries hold their voting days, but in the UK it's on a Thursday so to me a Sunday seems strange!

I'm not going to pretend to be all knowledgable about the politics in this country, I'll admit it sometimes bores me. Of course I understand the importance, but as I have no right to vote in these elections it does kind of go over my head a little.

In Europe you can only vote for the presidential or prime ministerial elections in your native country. Which actually now seems a little pointless to me. I can't vote for change in the country I live in, yet I could vote for the UK prime minister which no longer has any effect on me or my life whatsoever. Doesn't really make sense?

Unless your head is constantly buried in the sand, you will know that Nicolas Sarkozy is the current right-wing president, he's not a popular one. At least not with people I know. So I would expect a lot of voting for the left Francois Hollande, extreme left Jean Luc Melenchon or at least middle left Francois Bayrou, who appear to have their supporters. I've seen a poll for people in Brittany who will mainly be voting left. But, what you hear and what happens in an election doesn't always concur. I literally don't know a single supporter of Sarkozy, but I will not be surprised if he remains in power. There is also a lot of unrest in southern France where there are a high number of North African immigrants, and therefore several supporters of the extreme right. Marine Le Pen from the Front National, is probably hoping for a repeat of the 2002 election where the extreme right made it through to the 2nd round and woke France up!

So watch out on the news this evening to see who makes it through to the 2nd round and how France might be affected.