Political Campaign in France

Anyone who has survived the tortuous political campaigns in the US would take great relief in being in France in the same year that both countries are electing their next presidents. During my recent trip to the States in February I couldn't help but to notice the numerous TV adds related to one or the other candidate already on air, also note that I watched probably less than one hour of TV during my entire 3 week stay. It occurred to me upon return to Paris that the elections here are scheduled for 22 April for the first round when the top two contenders will be determined and I believe 6 May is the final voting for the official president and yet I had not seen or heard one political advertisement on the TV or radio and have seen very few signs about in the streets. So, of course, I was wondering with so little time left when the barrage of attacks would begin. Well, today I found the answer, it won't really happen at all.....WHAT? you might ask! Well, according to various news sources yesterday, Monday, 9 April was the official day for the French political campaign to begin. Placed before each school and local government building are metal panels upon which each of the candidates is allowed to post their information. They may have 2 posters, each with specific dimensions, not on white paper that is reserved for official/administrative information only, and with no color combination using white, blue and red (colors of the French flag) except if those are used within the emblem of the specific political party. One of the posters is to spell out the information of events when the candidates will be speaking and the other may have their photo, name and party affiliation. As for TV and radio, each candidate may use 20 minutes of air time (cumulative) between now and the 22 April but each candidate MUST be allowed exactly the same amount, no more no less. With this limitation, ads are short and they can't be shown very often in order not to use all of the 20 minutes, I expect the barrage will come the last week before the election. The media may report stories about candidates but may not endorse any one candidate over the other. There will be a couple of debates but it is the only extra air time the candidates will get and that is important that each candidate get equal time answering questions so they cannot try to challenge one another as it will take time away from the others. There are no restrictions on the internet. It is prohibited for polls and predictions about the winners to be released or talked about for days leading up to as well as on the night of the elections. Countries outside the border will likely be doing this but it won't be happening in France. One can see that these types of limitations really forces the electorate to read, discuss, attend rallies, and seek out the information from the candidates rather than to depend on sound bites and tidbit of information that might be presented by the opposition. There must also be some type of restriction on saying things that are untrue about the other candidates as the current president sued one of his opponents in the last election for lying about him. He lost his argument and is now running for a second term....all fingers are crossed that he does not gain a second term in office. All in all though I really appreciate the way the French go about electing their president and feel that the US is losing its democratic process.