By Julio Godoy
PARIS, Apr 23 2007 (IPS)

Right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Ségolène Royal will face one another in the final round of French presidential elections May 6 following the first round of voting Sunday.

Sarkozy, from the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) obtained 31 percent of the vote Sunday. Royal, candidate of the Socialist Party (PS) came second, with almost 26 percent.

The results are historic. President Jacques Chirac, who will retire from political life next month, obtained 19 percent of the vote during the first round of elections five years ago.

The large numbers were made possible by a massive turnout of about 86 percent of 44.5 million registered voters. In 2002, only 29 percent voted in the first round.

That low turnout then was seen as one reason for elimination of Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin and first-round victory for neo-fascist Jean Marie Le Pen. Le Pen later lost to Chirac, who won the second round with 83 percent of the vote.

This time the first electoral round marks a likely final demise of extremist candidates. Le Pen, who five years ago had gathered 17 percent of the vote to come second, won less than 12 percent this time.

The electoral outcome Sunday was even more cruel for left-wing parties. Candidates for the formerly powerful Communist and Green parties, Marie George Buffet and Dominique Voynet, each got less than two percent of the vote. The anti-globalisation leader José Bové obtained only 1.4 percent.

The demise of the extremist candidates suggests that French voters are ready for a new party system moving towards division of political force among only a few parties, the case in most other European countries.

Immediately after the results, practically all left-wing candidates announced they would rally behind Royal in order to “make sure that Sarkozy does not become president,” as Communist candidate Buffet put it. Bové also described Sarkozy as “a dangerous man.” He said, “I call all citizens to join forces to triumph over his extreme right-wing ideas.”

Sarkozy has been seen as an extremist right-wing politician, especially since his handling of the violent demonstrations by youths of immigrant origin in Paris and other cities late in 2005. Sarkozy called youth of immigrant origin scum, and said he would use an industrial machine to clean up the outskirts of cities where migrant populations usually live.

As minister of the interior Sarkozy masterminded massive expulsion of illegal immigrants. For the elections he openly, and to judge by his score, successfully, seduced Le Pen’s electorate by proposing the creation of a ministry of immigration and national identity.

But after winning the first round Sunday, Sarkozy spoke a different language, where he described France as “a fraternal dream where everybody finds a place, where nobody fears the other, where diversity is seen not as a threat but as richness.”

Royal called on French citizens to support her candidacy in two weeks time to create “the just order.”

Sarkozy and Royal represent the two traditional parties, but both candidates say they would want to break from recent political past.

Francois Bayrou, the centrist candidate who came third, said after the election that “French politics will never be the same again.” He said the “path of hope (towards institutional political change) does not stop here” and that the “French illness is more grave than they (UMP and Socialist politicians) believe.”

Bayrou got more than 18 percent of the vote. His supporters will be critical in deciding the outcome May 6.

The notion that French polity is suffering from terminal illness has been repeated by practically all candidates along the campaign. Sarkozy has said he represents a “break with the past,” even though he has been interior minister in the present government.

Royal won Socialist nomination through a campaign outside party structures, based on direct contacts with voters. But neither Sarkozy nor Royal have spelt out just how they would reform French political institutions.

Some leading members of the PS have been campaigning for traditional parliamentary democracy instead of the presidential system, but Royal has not supported this proposal.

But many people now say reforms must go beyond mere transfer of power from president to parliament. At present political, economic and administrative power is heavily concentrated in Paris, leaving little room for independent planning in the provinces.

This centralism has so far blocked all attempts to create a federal structure in government. A modest move 30 years ago had brought only limited new powers for the provinces, and did not stop concentration of decisions in Paris.

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