If the Washington Post doesn’t like the results, then an election must be “shrill.” That would explain the lead sentence of its lead front page story on the elections in France and Greece on Sunday. As with most WaPo articles on economics, this one is full of misconceptions and factual errors.

French election rules feature a runoff after a first round with multiple candidates. If the unpopular Sarkozy wins a small first round plurality because of a divided field, that isn’t the end of the story. On May 6th the two candidates that did the best in the first round complete in a run-off election. That can’t happen in America, because the rules effectively prevent the success of other parties.