The right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy and the socialist Ségolène Royal won the first round of the French presidential election last night, and will face each other in the May 6th run-off, writes Lara Marlowein Paris.
For the first time, a woman is within reach of the Élysée Palace. Also for the first time, France will be ruled by a president born after the second World War.
Mr Sarkozy came in first, at 30.44 per cent, according to results provided by the interior ministry at 10pm. Ms Royal won 24.79 per cent of the vote, the centrist Francois Bayrou 18.31 per cent and the extreme right-wing leader Jean-Marie Le Pen scored only 11.33 per cent, a substantial drop from the 16.9 per cent score that got him to the run-off in 2002.
"I misjudged the French," Mr Le Pen said bitterly. "I thought they were dissatisfied, but they re-elected the parties responsible for this situation." None of the other eight candidates scored more than 4.4 per cent.
Last night's result proved that the left-right divide is alive and well in France, despite Mr Bayrou's campaign to bury it. In the last days of the campaign, Ms Royal concentrated on the need for France to have a genuine left-right confrontation, a strategy that paid off.
Mr Sarkozy was the first candidate to address the country. By placing him and Ms Royal in the lead, he said: "The French clearly showed their desire to go to the end of a debate between two ideas of the nation, two types of society, two systems of values, two concepts of politics . . . I want it to be a true debate of ideas."
According to an Ipsos poll yesterday Mr Sarkozy would win the presidency in the run-off ballot with 54 per cent of the vote against Ms Royal's 46 per cent.
The left candidate waited for an hour and a half after the first results were known to speak from her constituency in Melle, in the Deux-Sèvres department. Beaming, in a white dress, she expressed her "joy and deep gratitude" to those who voted for her. "I claim no personal glory," she said. "You are giving me a major responsibility to lead the battle for change, so that France rises up." Ms Royal asked the country to chose "daring and serenity" so that the "republic of respect" may triumph.
"We know there is no liberty without justice, no economic efficiency without social progress." Alluding to Mr Sarkozy, she said she wanted "to reform France without brutalising her".
Mr Sarkozy's hard-right turn in recent weeks appears to have deprived Mr Le Pen of a part of his electorate. But last night, Mr Sarkozy seemed to veer back towards the left, addressing himself to "the France that suffers" as well as "the exasperated France". He said he wanted to protect the French from violence, unfair competition, outsourcing and exclusion - all themes adopted by Ms Royal.
"The France I dream of will leave no one by the wayside," he said. "The most fragile have the right to as much love as the strongest."
Over the next two weeks, Mr Sarkozy will attempt to persuade the French that he is not a volatile, dangerous character who pits one France against another. If Ms Royal is to win, she will have to dispel doubts about her competence.
Participation in yesterday's vote was 85 per cent, the highest turnout since the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958. The election also marked the recovery of the three big parties, the right-wing UMP, socialist PS and centrist UDF. In 2002 they received only 42.9 per cent of votes in the first round. Last night, they scored an aggregate of 73.54 per cent.
"French politics have changed and will never be the same again," Mr Bayrou, the centrist candidate, said. "At last, France has a centre." Though he failed to obtain a place in the run-off, Mr Bayrou added almost 12 percentage points to his 2002 score.
Mr Sarkozy and Ms Royal can be expected to seek his support over the next two weeks.