FRANCE: The French presidential election campaign began yesterday when President Jacques Chirac announced that he is standing for re-election, writes Lara Marlowe from Paris
"I want to be the president of all French people," Mr Chirac said in an interview on the evening television news. "I want to be the candidate not of an ideology, not of a party, not of nostalgia. I want to be the candidate of passion, of renewal, who brings people together."
The first round of the election will take place in 69 days. Incumbent presidents have traditionally declared their candidacy scarcely a month before the poll. But with his popularity falling and threatened by financial scandals, Mr Chirac came under pressure from advisers to act. He is losing votes to Mr Jean-Pierre Chevènement, the former left-wing cabinet minister whose hard line on security and opposition to European integration and Corsican autonomy appeal to voters across the political spectrum.
Most alarming for Mr Chirac, politicians on both left and right have begun to speak of the possibility of a second round face-off between Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and Mr Chevènement.
Mr Chirac staged his theatrical announcement late in the morning in Avignon, where the Gaullist mayor, Ms Marie-Jose Roig, asked him at a meeting of business managers whether he would be a candidate. "You've asked me a frank, direct, question," Mr Chirac said. "So I'll respond in the same spirit. Yes, I am a candidate." In Avignon and on national television last night, Mr Chirac denounced "France that is working at a slow pace" under Mr Jospin's government.
The President's advisers are reportedly divided between those who want him to express more identifiably right-wing opinions and those who would like him to resume the theme of the "social fracture" on which he was elected in 1995. Asked why he failed to keep his promises of seven years ago, Mr Chirac blamed the budgetary restraints imposed by the criteria for achieving monetary union.
Mr Jospin has said he is "available" for the presidential race and is a "probable" candidate, but will not state his intention categoricalloy until after the parliamentary session closes on February 22nd.
An opinion poll published by Libération yesterday showed that 62 per cent of French voters are not interested in the presidential election. But 49 per cent said Mr Chevènement was fighting a good campaign.