The Hindu : French vote in crucial round

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 06, 2002

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International

French vote in crucial round

By Vaiju Naravane

Paris May 5. Forty-one million French voters went to the polls today to choose a new President.

The choice is stark, with the incumbent Jacques Chirac, a conservative, pitted against the extreme right's Jean Marie Le Pen. Most people are likely to vote for the former in order to keep the xenophobic, extreme right out of the Elysee Palace.

A high abstention rate, a lacklustre campaign by the Socialist candidate and the fragmentation of the left wing votes between the moderate and extreme left resulted in the defeat of the Socialist Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, at the hands of Mr. Le Pen. The extreme right won a record 20 per cent of the vote in the first round. Mr. Le Pen successfully played upon the public's fear of insecurity.

Although the turnout was higher today than for the first round, it compared unfavourably with earlier presidential elections. Only 26 per cent of the voters had exercised their franchise by mid-day, compared to almost 30 per cent at the same time in 1995.

Polling station No. 9 is located in a school in Paris' 15th district. Pascal turned 18 last August and this is his first vote. "I feel very guilty because I did not vote in the first round and look what happened. It made me realise that democracy is fragile and cannot be taken for granted. These past two weeks I've been out in the streets demonstrating with my friends. I want France to know and the world to know that the French are not a closed up, foreigner-hating people'', he says.

The presiding officer is a kindly schoolteacher and he asks Pascal to return just before closing time at 8 p.m. to help count the votes. "I am asking young people to come and watch the electoral process. That is one way of getting them involved, of safeguarding democracy,'' he says.

Confidential opinion polls conducted this week indicate that Mr. Le Pen is likely to improve his first round score. "If Le Pen scores 30 per cent or more in the second round, France will be in big trouble. There are certain polls that indicate he might win as much as 30 to 35 per cent of the vote. If that were to happen it would become clear that the first round was not just a protest vote but a clear vote in favour of the xenophobic, anti-foreigner and ultra conservative policies advocated by the extreme right,'' said the political scientist, Olivier Duhamel.

Politicians across the board have called on voters to form a republican front against Mr. Le Pen. High abstention rates would work to the challenger's advantage. Mr. Chirac's first round score of less than 20 per cent was inglorious. A high score for Mr. Le Pen would further discredit the President and open the door to an uncertain result in the legislative elections scheduled for next June.

Reuters reports:

Mr. Le Pen, who has in recent days seemed resigned to defeat, was in breezy mood as he cast his vote in the west Paris suburb where his National Front has its headquarters. ``I make it a principle to be optimistic before one's fate is known,'' he told reporters.

``That way, if your optimism is not justified, you are unhappy for a short while but have at least been happy for a longer while.''

Mr. Chirac, accompanied by his wife, Bernadette, posed for the cameras as he cast his vote in his family base in Correze, central France, but made no comment.

Mr. Le Pen's shock triumph galvanised opposition to him, driving voters of all political stripes into the streets to denounce his candidacy.

France's top newspapers took the unusual step of endorsing Mr. Chirac to block the xenophobic leader.

``Vote. Vote for the Republic, for democracy and against extremism. Vote for Chirac,'' urged the weekly Le Journal du Dimanche.

``The greater his (Chirac's) score, the more it is our victory _ that of a France that wants to live in harmony.'' Many voters appeared to have taken that message to heart.

``Of course I voted for Chirac,'' said 26-year-old investment adviser as he left a polling station in Paris's trendy fourth arrondissement. ``I tend more to the left, but it wasn't that difficult.''

Commentators say today's vote could influence Mr. Chirac's choice of an interim Prime Minister to serve until the June 9 and 16 legislative elections for the 577-seat National Assembly.

The main favourites for the job are the provincial moderate, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, and the ambitious Gaullist, Nicolas Sarkozy.

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