Chirac Is Mightier Than Le Pen

After receiving a wakeup call two weeks ago, the French people turned out in force Sunday and re-elected incumbent Jacques Chirac by a landslide over extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in a presidential election runoff that shook France to its foundations.

All three of France's major polling firms gave Chirac between 81 and 83 percent of the vote, with Le Pen getting 17 to just over 18 percent.

Chirac's huge victory was helped by a larger turnout than for the April 21 first round, when 28 percent of voters stayed home. Turnout on Sunday was estimated at about 80 percent, with 20 percent abstaining.

Most of the votes that returned Chirac to office were not so much cast for him, but against his rival.

Political parties and pressure groups across the spectrum had called for a massive vote for Chirac, leader of the Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR) party, in an election that Le Pen's presence turned into a referendum on the extreme right.

In victory remarks, Chirac acknowledged he had been re-elected in part by left-leaning voters who normally wouldn't have chosen him, but did so to block Le Pen, a fixture on the fringes of French politics who is widely viewed as racist and anti-Semitic.

"You took your decision in full reflection, going beyond the traditional divisions," he told voters, "and for some among you, going above and beyond your personal or political preferences."

"We have gone through a time of serious anxiety for the country," Chirac said. "But tonight, in a great spirit, France has reaffirmed its attachment to values of the Republic."

But the result was still likely to resonate bitterly for many in France. The country's considerable leftist electorate voted for Chirac for no reason other than to block Le Pen — whose first-round showing shocked the country and set off a popular movement to preserve France's democracy and dignity.

Chirac, whose murkily defined campaign was transformed into a crusade against the far right, now faces the challenges of a weak mandate, the need to answer obvious domestic discontent, and the task of repairing France's damaged international reputation.

Chirac supporters in downtown Paris erupted in cheers as the news was announced. Le Pen, from his headquarters near Paris, called the result "a stinging defeat for hope in France."

Chirac has promised to immediately begin implementing a law-and-order agenda, responding to a key voter concern: rising crime. His Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, has said he'll leave his job immediately after the election.

Some voters did not go happily to the polls. A few leftists said they were so displeased with the choice offered that they planned to cast ballots for the conservative Chirac, who is plagued by corruption scandals, wearing latex gloves or with clothespins on their noses. French officials warned that such a public display could lead to fines or the annulment of a vote.

Outside a polling station in the southern town of Villeurbaine, some activists erected a fake voting booth where voters could be sprayed with a mock "disinfectant."

"I obviously voted for Chirac, but against all my values. He is a crook, but better him than a fascist," said Serge Recolin, a 27-year-old medical student on his way to the movies.

But for many, the election, divisive as it was, was a unifying moment as well. Street protests against Le Pen, a fixture on the fringes of French politics who's widely viewed as racist and anti-Semitic, drew people from across the political spectrum, of all ages and strata of society, some in wheelchairs and some pushing strollers.

Le Pen, 73, silver-haired and theatrical, who famously once called Nazi gas chambers "a detail" of World War II history, scored slightly better than the nearly 17 percent he got in the first round, but much worse than the 30 percent he'd hoped for.

Anything above that, analysts said, could have spelled trouble in legislative elections next month. The all-important parliamentary vote determines the prime minister and the shape of government, and will decide whether Chirac gets a center-right majority or whether the left can rebound and retain control of the government.

Despite Chirac's margin of victory, it was hard to see how any score could be interpreted as a clear mandate, given the scope of the protest vote against Le Pen.

Chirac, 69, is seen as a consummate diplomat abroad but is plagued by suspicions of corruption at home, stemming from when he was mayor of Paris. Investigators want to question him about his use of hundreds of thousands of public dollars for personal vacations, and also allegations that city hall received millions in kickbacks, then funneled the money into political parties like Chirac's Rally for the Republic.

"Vote for the crook, not the fascist," was a rallying cry for some of the anti-Le Pen protesters the past two weeks.

One of the most improbable elections in French history began with an unwieldy first round on April 21, when 16 candidates of all stripes and colors faced off for the two spots in Sunday's runoff.

Many voters stayed home or on vacation, bored by a campaign that appeared certain to pit Chirac against Jospin, seen as earnest but dull. It was a repeat of the last election in 1995, and a matchup that excited few. Abstentions reached 28 percent.

But a highly fragmented field sapped strength from the main candidates, and the first round, often seen as merely a protest vote, turned into a political earthquake when Le Pen slipped by Jospin by less than a percentage point to make the runoff.

Many voters said they had been concerned about rising crime, and didn't feel the main candidates had taken the problem seriously.

A shocked Jospin declared he would retire from politics, and Chirac — who scored just under 20 percent, the lowest ever for an incumbent president — told the nation he'd heard its message of discontent.

In the streets, meanwhile, citizens mobilized to express their horror at Le Pen's showing. The protests reached their apex on May 1, the traditional labor holiday, when well over a million people marched in more than 100 cities and towns.

"N for Nazi, F for Fascist," many chanted, referring to the initials of Le Pen's National Front.

Le Pen returned to the extreme rhetoric he had stayed away from in the first-round campaign — proposing, for example, that illegal aliens be placed in "transit camps" before deportation and that a "special train" be organized to send them to Britain — chilling Nazi-era language.

For Chirac, his campaign was transformed.

"The response is not extremism," an energized Chirac told supporters in the northern suburb of Villepinte. "The leaders of the far right betrayed the French people by allying with the forces of evil and the enemies of our homeland. History has definitively disqualified them from speaking on behalf of France."