File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_2002/postcolonial.0204, message 263


Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 21:47:42 +0200
From: Lise Fontaine <lfontaine-AT-teaser.fr>
Subject: Re: French Elections


>I just got word that Le Pen might have made into the
>2nd round of presidential elections, alongside Chirac.

I'm afraid your information is correct.  the final count was as follows
Chirac 19%
Le Pen 17%
Jospin 15 %

I think, like you and many others that this is a very bad sign. However, it should be noted that what is also reflected here is a non-participation on the part of many French, who, for the most part, felt it was certain that the outcome would be Chirac and Jospin and probably felt that voting at this point was not important. On the other hand, Le Pen supporters would not have missed the opportunity to vote and I would guess that 100% Le Pen supporters voted, while the record for abstention was broken by other voters. Since Chirac's votes stayed at the same rate, perhaps French voters individually felt that others would do the job in their place.  Still, from my perspective, it's a sad day in France, and a sad reflection on what is happening here... perhaps less for the votes for Le Pen than the lack of involvement and ambivalence shown today.

Lise




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