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A Times Editorial
French voters overwhelmingly rejected Jean-Marie Le Pen's bigoted challenge, but they also sent a message to re-elected President Jacques Chirac.
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 8, 2002
People can stop wringing their hands over the future of French democracy. President Jacques Chirac's overwhelming re-election victory exposed the deep unpopularity of the thuggish, bigoted demagoguery of challenger Jean-Marie Le Pen. Le Pen's dismal showing in Sunday's runoff was evidence that his surprising second-place finish in the first round of presidential voting was a quirk of the crowded ballot, not a troubling sign of brewing French xenophobia.
The campaign leading up to Sunday's runoff was a constructive exercise, spurring a period of national self-appraisal and allowing for the healthy airing of some legitimate issues that Le Pen had worked to distort and exploit. France's rising crime rate is a concern for millions of people who want nothing to do with Le Pen's brand of politics. So are issues related to immigration and globalization, which even in good economic times have negative side effects that mainstream French politicians had tended to disregard.
Chirac shouldn't let his landslide runoff victory obscure the message he and the rest of France's ruling class received in the first round of presidential voting. Otherwise, his own political career may follow the path of Lionel Jospin, whose shocking third-place finish cost him his job as prime minister. Most French voters were searching for someone, anyone, who represented a responsible alternative to the corrupt, out-of-touch system Chirac and Jospin had come to represent.
Even as he celebrated with more than 80 percent of Sunday's vote, Chirac said he "heard and understood" the message French voters sent with the results of last month's first round. His choice of conservative senator Jean-Pierre Raffarin to replace Jospin as prime minister is intended to address the public's concerns about crime and social disruption. The choice of Raffarin, who represents an opposition party, may also be the first step toward building a broader, more representative leadership. June's legislative elections will be an early test of support for the new coalition Chirac is trying to cobble together.
In any case, the political system Chirac leads already has passed a more important test. Democracy has, once again, worked in France. Le Pen was free to express his repugnant views, and they did not wear well. Chirac and other government leaders should emerge chastened and a bit wiser. And French politicians may be more likely to bite their collective tongues the next time Pat Buchanan or some other bigoted gadfly causes a similar blip in American politics.