POLITICS: Corruption A Major Issue In French Poll

By Julio Godoy Reprint | | Print |

Julio Godoy

PARIS, Feb 9 2001 (IPS) - Corruption is becoming a major issue in French elections.

Observers and political analysts say the current examination of corruption in France will decisively influence the outcome of local elections in the next months, and may decide the political and judicial fate of President Jacques Chirac.

Although the two major cases of corruption presently being examined by the ministry of justice, concern former Socialist officials, polls consistently suggest that the public discussion of dishonest government will damage the electoral chances of the right wing Neogaullist Party Rassemblement pour la Republique (RPR).

This is particularly the case in Paris, where elections will take place on Mar 11. The RPR, the political party that President Chirac founded in 1975, has controlled the city’s government since 1977.

Chirac was Mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995. Over these years the RPR, which dominated the city’s administration, allegedly used the municipal funds for the party.

The illegal schemes used by the RPR include the enlistment of party members in the payroll of Paris. But they never worked for the city’s administration.

The RPR also pocketed some 75 million dollars in illegal commission from a single public contract: the repair of elevators in Paris’ state-owned houses, according to unconfirmed reports.

Middleman Jean Claude Merry indirectly confirmed these figures. He stated that he alone during the 1980s obtained for the RPR some 40 million Francs a year – some 6 million dollars. Merry, who died of cancer in 1997, spend some months in prison under charges of corrupting public officials and of illegally financing political parties. He accused, in a video recording, Chirac of personally receiving part of the unauthorised commissions for the RPR.

In several cases, documents imply that President Chirac was personally involved in the design of these illegal practices. Left- wing Parisians have accused him of corruption and taken hin to court.

But a controversial constitutional clause protects a siting President from all judicial prosecution. The only chance to bring a President before the court is in the case of treason – or to wait until the end of his mandate.

Chirac, who plans to run again for President, has repeatedly denied any misdeed. In a memorable television interview last fall, he described the accusations against him as “a conspiracy”. He also said that the accusations, which occurred “more than 10 years ago, are a lie.”

However, the allegations against Chirac and the RPR have damaged the party’s image. According to the most recent polls, the Socialist candidate Bertrand Delanoe shall easily win the Paris voting in four weeks.

For political analyst Jean-Michel Thenard, these polls reflect “the end of Chiraquism as a farce and in total discredit.” In an article for the newspaper Liberation, Thenard wrote on Friday, that “Neogaullist municipal government in Paris is about to die (and is being) questioned by (the ministry of) justice in view of numerous accusations of illegal funding and of electoral fraud. These signs evoke the decadence of an ancient regime.”

France’s peculiar political system allows the country’s opposition parties to share the government. This so called “cohabitation” is currently in place, with right-wing Neogaullist President Chirac, who came to power in 1995, and a Socialist- dominated left-wing coalition government, that also controls the parliament.

The ministry of justice is currently dealing with the corruption allegations related to illegal weapons export to Angola, and in the management of former state oil enterprise Elf Aquitaine. In both cases former Socialist officials have been accused, among them Jean Christophe Mitterrand, eldest son of former President Francois Mitterrand, and Roland Dumas, his Foreign Minister.

But the Socialist Party has managed to refurbish its image and distance itself from the allegations of rampant corruption under President Mitterrand. This Socialist renewal is attributed to the party’s leader, Lionel Jospin, who serves as Prime Minister of a coalition government with Communists, Greens, and several small left-wing movements.

Polls consistently reflect since 1997 an extraordinary degree of public confidence on Jospin’s personal honesty and on his capacity as chief of government. Latest surveys assure that 60 per cent of the voters trust Jospin – a result unequalled for a Prime Minister since the founding of the fifth French Republic in 1958. Opinion polls also suggest that Jospin would defeat Chirac in the next presidential elections.

This improvement of the Socialists’ public image does not mean that France’s dubious political practices of the past are over. Political scientist Yves Meny considers that, in contrast to other European countries such as Italy and Spain, France has not been able to put an end to corruption.

“In Spain, the corrupt Socialist government under Felipe Gonzalez was voted out of office, and, therefore, the (party) was obliged to renew its leadership,” says Meny, a researcher on political corruption.

“In Italy, the whole political class implied in corruption collapsed with the operation mani pulite. In Germany, former Chancellor Helmut Kohl was at least forced to pay a pecuniary sanction for his faults. But in France the same old political leadership and practices are in place since decades, despite all scandals,” he added.

Seven laws on corruption and funding of political parties have been pronounced in France since 1988. Among them a controversial general amnesty decreed in 1990 that pardoned all felonies related to the funding of political parties.

In 1990, the Parliament also decided to finance parties with public money according to their electoral performances. Since then, private donations within a given margin to political parties also have been allowed.

But illegal political funding has never ceased in France.