France fails democracy

France sends a Fascist and a Conservative into the second round of the presidential elections on May 5th, a fact which speaks volumes about its political reality.

Jacques Chirac, Gaullist (Conservative) is set to gain 20% of the vote in Sunday’s first round, with Jean-Marie Le Pen, the racist National Front candidate, in second place with a forecast 17%. In third, the Socialist Lionel Jospin, with 16%, who declares that he will abandon politics. Jospin declared the results of this election “a very worrying sign for France and for our democracy”. He blamed the results on “the demagogy of the right and the dispersion of the left”. Lionel Jospin added that he would remain as Prime Minister until the second round, after which he would withdraw from public life, after five years in government.

The high abstention rate (30%) and the record number of candidates (16) are a symptom that the French people were tired of co-habitation between Chirac and Jospin and that their needs have not been addressed by the political class.

Emilie ACQUITAINE PRAVDA.Ru PARIS FRANCE