Friday, Apr 05, 2002
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By Vaiju Naravane
Unknown assailants threw firebombs and Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in the southern French city of Montpellier early Thursday. On Sunday, a synagogue was burnt down in the southern port city of Marseilles, which houses a large immigrant Arab population. Police believe the wave of attacks on Jewish schools, cemeteries, businesses and places of worship are being carried out by young Arabs supporting the Palestinian cause in West Asia. The last-minute scramble to get the required 500 sponsorship signatures from elected officials is over, and there are now 17 candidates officially on the ballot for the first round of the Presidential elections scheduled for April 21. The Conservative incumbent, Jacques Chirac and his Socialist rival, the Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, are largely expected to make it to the second round run-off between the two leading first round candidates on May 5. In the past, candidates found it fairly easy to get over 500 elected officials to sponsor them, since the signatures were kept secret. Now that their names are being posted on the Internet, elected officials are chary of lending support to extremist candidates such as those of the anti-immigrant National Front or the Trotskyist extreme left. Jean Marie Le Pen, the president of the anti-foreigner National Front almost did not make it to the ballot. His supporters went calling on mayors of large towns and small villages alike to persuade them to sign, with disclaimers, if needed, saying their signatures did not necessarily mean an endorsement of the National Front's political platform. The former Conservative Interior Minister, Charles Pasqua, has fallen victim to the system of signatures and will not be on the ballot. The signatures are meant to prevent the proliferation of nuisance candidates. Besides Mr. Chirac and Mr. Jospin, the first round ballot includes names from every shade of political opinion. Jean Marie Le Pen and his former Deputy and now bitter extreme right-wing rival, Bruno Megret, are both running. Between them, they are expected win about 12 per cent of the vote. On the extreme left, candidates include Robert Hue of the Communist Party and Arlette Laguiller. Extreme left candidates are expected to win about 15 per cent of the vote. At least four candidates from as many ecologist formations are in the running as are liberal and ultra liberal hopefuls from Mr. Chirac's own political family. An unclassifiable dark horse to emerge in recent months is the former Socialist Defence and Interior Minister, Jean Pierre Chevenement, who says he is neither from the left nor the right, standing for national sovereignty and republican values. The single most important and perhaps only issue that is dominating this campaign is that of high crime rates and the resultant atmosphere of insecurity. Last week, an allegedly deranged killer opened fire on a municipal council meeting in the working class Paris suburb of Nanterre, killing eight councillors and injuring 19. Two days later he allegedly committed suicide while in police custody.The events in West Asia have also affected the electoral campaign here, since incidents of anti-Semitism are on the rise with attacks against Jewish cemeteries and synagogues.
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