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Friday April 27, 2007

French rightist Le Pen loses in election

by rina bassist
jta

paris | Local media are rejoicing at the extreme right’s poor results in the first round of French elections.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, head of the far-right National Front Party, received 10.5 percent of the April 22 presidential vote, compared to 16.9 percent five years ago when he stunned voters by reaching the runoff against incumbent Jacques Chirac.

This year he placed fourth after Nicolas Sarkozy (moderate right), Segolene Royal (left) and Francois Bayrou (center). Three-quarters of the votes were divided among the traditional right, left and center parties.

For Le Pen, 79, the results may mark the end of his political career, or at least his ambition to become president.

“I thought the French were unhappy,” Le Pen said. “The French are very happy and the proof is that they have just re-elected — my goodness, with a very comfortable lead and even a little more — the parties that have been in power and who are responsible for the situation in France.”

Le Pen said he would give his supporters instructions on how to vote before Sarkozy and Royal meet in a runoff election May 6.

A former Foreign Legionnaire who fought in Algeria and Vietnam, Le Pen has led France’s far right for more than 30 years. He has been accused of promoting xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

His daughter Marine, a member of the European Parliament who works closely with him, might run for head of the National Front Party when Le Pen steps down.

Among Le Pen’s comments over the years was one in which he claimed that gas chambers were only a small detail of history, for which he was given a heavy fine.

In 1986 he was found guilty of vindicating war crimes for editing a hate-filled “hymn of the Nazi Party.” A year later he was given yet another fine for inciting discrimination and racial hatred.

In recent years Le Pen, encouraged by his daughter, has cast a moderate image. He even campaigned among immigrant communities and French citizens of Arab origin. Still, he slipped more then once, saying that blacks and whites are different. He also said he regretted that Chirac took responsibility for the anti-Jewish acts of the wartime Vichy government.

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