The election that might make a difference and is too close to call thread - France

Thrugelmir

michaels wrote: »

Tony Blair was highly polished Mass Debater, but that doesn't necessarily make a good Prime Minister.

One would expect no less of a barrister.

wotsthat

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Isn't that the French for you. An excitable race when they get agitated.

Don't know but Macron and Le Pen both lost their cool when they didn't need to.

Like it or not personality matters because the masses aren't going to be reading and discussing manifestos at work anytime soon. No point in having the best policy in the world if people don't like you and/ or you're incapable of dealing with people saying your policy is crap.

The opposite is also true. Charisma can help push through sub-optimal policies.

vivatifosi

There has, apparently, been a massive data breach affecting the Macron campaign. Under the rules, campaigners are not allowed to discuss anything the day before the election, but being widely discussed on Twitter.

Allegedly real emails have been interspersed with fake news in an attempt to discredit Macron. I wonder if this explains some of Le Pen's comments.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39827244

WengerIn

This seems to be the actual data:

https://pastebin.com/bUJKFpH1

I wonder if the hackers hadn't understood French election laws. They're quite tough on reporting stuff like this and even opinion polling.

There are claims that the documents show evidence of tax evasion.

michaels

Nice damage control to claim some are fake just at the last moment before the campaigning deadline.

Presumably if there were a real smoking gun it would have been used earlier in the campaign.

I don't think anything can change the result so it looks like the French leadership will be looking to end the idea of European Nations wanting to ceed all financial control to the united states of europe.

gfplux

wotsthat wrote: »

Don't know but Macron and Le Pen both lost their cool when they didn't need to.

Like it or not personality matters because the masses aren't going to be reading and discussing manifestos at work anytime soon. No point in having the best policy in the world if people don't like you and/ or you're incapable of dealing with people saying your policy is crap.

The opposite is also true. Charisma can help push through sub-optimal policies.

The general view was that Macron held his composure better than Le Pen.
If anyone can be said to have won the debate the floating voters might have thought Macron was more a Presidential.

gfplux

michaels wrote: »

Nice damage control to claim some are fake just at the last moment before the campaigning deadline.

Presumably if there were a real smoking gun it would have been used earlier in the campaign.

I don't think anything can change the result so it looks like the French leadership will be looking to end the idea of European Nations wanting to ceed all financial control to the united states of europe.

I am suspicious that Le Pen had a preview of the leak as she accused Macron of having a secret Bank account in the Cayman Islands during the debate. He is now suing. She might have been tricked. Who knows?

Yah_Boo_Sux

gfplux wrote: »

I am suspicious that Le Pen had a preview of the leak as she accused Macron of having a secret Bank account in the Cayman Islands during the debate. He is now suing. She might have been tricked. Who knows?

Dirty tricks in an election?
Surely not.

The Paris prosecutor has announced an investigation, we're told.
Story here:
http://observers.france24.com/en/20170505-france-elections-macron-lepen-offshore-bahamas-debunked

A_Pict_In_A_Past_Life

gfplux wrote: »

I am suspicious that Le Pen had a preview of the leak as she accused Macron of having a secret Bank account in the Cayman Islands during the debate. He is now suing. She might have been tricked. Who knows?

It's an interesting one for sure.
According to what I read on the BBC, these documents were hacked several weeks ago.

IMHO if these were seriously intended to deliberately harm Macron and to do the maximum damage they would have been leaked sooner, not as late as Friday evening. Midweek may have been optimal to cause the greatest damage.
Remember this is France we are talking about.
Even nowadays, news does not travel that fast in France.

mystic_trev

Although there's been a Media blackout on reporting macronleaks,in France it's been the number one trend there on Twitter. I think Macron will still win, but it will be interesting to see what (i any) effect it will have had on the Vote?