the "ecologist primary" process is going to play out over the next few weeks, in order to select our candidate for the presidential election (presuming that we run one... which is the most interesting part of the whole process)

Nominations close on the 5th of June, voting by internet (by anyone who wants to give their name and pay 10 euros can vote) is from 10th to 23rd June, results the 29th, and a second round in July if no candidate gets over 50%.

The two leading candidates are Eva Joly, anti-corruption judge, and Nicolas Hulot, popular television presenter. Guess who's going to win?

My initial reaction to the idea of being represented by Hulot is one of revulsion. I can guarantee that most Green Party members feel the same. He's not One Of Us; his TV show is sponsored by polluting multinationals; he was widely tipped to be minister of ecology in Sarkozy's government (luckily for him, he missed out).

But what the hell. If diversity is what we're about with this new-look party, then he's pretty diverse... In any case, we are fundamentally opposed to the presidential mode of government. We present a candidate because we can't exist politically, on the national level, without one. And if he knows how to talk to ordinary decent citizens, and be listened to, then he has an immense advantage over most of us.

But who knows. We may well be blackmailed by the PS into not presenting a candidate at all.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}