Roundtable on The Elections in UK and France and its Implications for India

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On 08 August, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organized a Roundtable on "The Elections in UK and France and its Implications for India". The panel included Professor Gulshan Sachdeva, Air Marshal Rajesh Kumar and Swasti Rao. The discussion was also attended by Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director (VIF), Lt. General R. K. Sawhney (Retd.), Ruchita Beri and other senior fellows and researcher’s from the VIF. Lt. General R. K. Sawhney delivered the opening remarks by highlighting the recently held elections in UK and France. Prof Sachdeva began the discussion by elaborating the electoral systems used in different European countries and their impact on respective political party’s performance. During the roundtable it was discussed that the recent parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom and France are poised to significantly impact domestic economic policies and their relations with the European Union.

The results of both these elections also raises a fundamental question on the many liberal economic policies implemented by the Conservatives in the UK and the Macron government in France. In connection to this, performance of different political parties in recent elections and reasons for the downfall of the Conservative Party in the UK were also highlighted along with the implications of domestic political fragmentation on French political and economic stability. The relevance of these parliamentary elections for India especially in terms of UK-India relations and the bilateral FTA were also discussed. The impact of domestic political turmoil in France and also on India-France relations was explained by the speaker.