Roundup: French Politicians in Run-up to Presidential Elections

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 04, 2001

Roundup: French Politicians in Run-up to Presidential Elections

Political figures in France are getting more animated on stage, catering to voters with promises to address major public concerns such as the economic slowdown andrising insecurity as campaigns for next year's presidential and legislative elections kick off. ��

LIGHTWEIGHT CANDIDATES DECLARED

As of Tuesday, 12 party leaders and an independent politician have declared themselves presidential candidates, which might not appear as a big number in France -- a country with more than 150 parties.

Maverick left-winger, former interior minister and founder of the Citizen's Movement (MDC) Jean-Pierre Chevenement, 62, announced his bid for the presidency in September.

Robert Hue, 54, France's most prominent communist, declared hiscandidacy in October at his party's overhauling congress, followedin November by Francois Bayrou, centrist leader and European deputy who heads the Union for French Democracy (UDF).

After months of friction, the French Green Party nominated as its candidate 52-year-old Noel Mamere, former television news presenter with high public profile and media know-how.

Rival environmentalist candidates also entered the contest, including Antoine Waechter of the Independent Ecologist Movement, and former environment ministers -- Brice Lalonde of Generation Ecology and Corinne Lepage who declared herself an independent candidate.

Of the extreme right-wing, both Jean-Marie Le Pen, 73, head of the National Front (FN) and his former colleague Bruno Megret, 52,who heads the Republican National Movement (MNR) that split from FN, have started their races.

The extreme left is divided between veteran Worker's Struggle (LO) candidate Arlette Laguillere, and Olivier Besancenot, a 27-year-old postman representing the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR). ��

HEAVYWEIGHTS IN NO HASTE

Under the French election system, the one who gets more than 50percent of the votes in the first round wins the game, otherwise the two leading candidates qualify for the run-off vote two weeks later, during which they must rally as many votes as possible fromthe defeated contenders.

As for the legislative votes, the Constitution stipulates that the party or party coalition winning the majority in parliament nominates the prime minister.

It is speculated that the real duel in the April-May presidential elections would be between left Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and right-wing incumbent President Jacques Chirac, though none of the two heavy-weights have officially announced their bids.

The Socialist Party (PS) forecasts its nomination of presidential candidature in February, while Chirac repeatedly saidthat he would make the decision "at an appropriate time", which also means early next year according to traditional practices. ��

DUEL SILENTLY GOING ON

However, calculated political moves have been made in both right and left camps months before an official start of the run-upto the general elections.

At traditional post-holiday party conferences in September, Jospin announced his Socialist Party (PS) would "tackle the challenges of 2002 without fear" and called for unity on the left.

He claimed that he himself wanted to "give birth to a new France".

On the same day, the Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR) launched a campaign of support for the candidature of Chirac and accused Jospin, in the style of electoral bickering, of failing tocombat the rising jobless rate, the worsening economic slowdown, unsettled feuds in Corsica and rising crime figures.

On November 12, the PS staged its electoral campaign by delivering a brochure advertising a positive balance sheet of the Jospin-led government since he became Premier in 1997. But the RPRriposted with a counter-balance sheet of the same theme, on the same day.

The September 11 terror attacks on the United States and anti-terrorist coalition buildup thereafter are believed to have brought advantage to Chirac, who, as head of state and commander-in-chief of the armies of France, has been taking a lot of travelslately, including two visits to the United States and a three-nation Maghreb tour last weekend.

The trips kept Chirac in the news, enabling the experienced andpopular campaigner to impose more as an "image of France" on the world stage while Jospin still kept his nearly blank record as internationalist in the silently inaugurated presidential races.