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CNN Live At Daybreak

Shocking Political Upset in French Elections

Aired April 22, 2002 - 06:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Some political observers are shaking their heads in total disbelief today. Jean-Marie Le Pen has upset socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to advance to the second round of the presidential elections with incumbent conservative, Jacques Chirac.

CNN's Hala Gorani is live in Paris to tell us what that means -- Hala, this is amazing.

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, indeed, amazing. We were actually tallying up the numbers yesterday before the announcement of the official results of the first round, and we were thinking it is statistically possible, but politically so improbable that even analysts were saying that it was impossible, that it was improbable, don't expect it.

And the improbable, the impossible, the shocking actually happened. It's the fourth time Jean-Marie Le Pen runs for president, four times lucky for his supporters and Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far right candidate, who came in second beating out in a major upset French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin of the Socialist Party.

Now, as a result of this very unexpected result, spontaneous outpouring of opposition from some French people. A very large demonstration in Paris, which went out throughout the night until 4:30, even clashes were reported in some areas in Paris. French people saying, some of them, I am ashamed to be French; others saying that the far right fascist coming into second position is something France itself should be ashamed of.

Now, let me tell you who Jean-Marie Le Pen is. He is 73 years old. He is the leader of the National Front Party. Among some of his policy proposals, he suggests immediately deporting all immigrants legally on French soil. He suggests France should actually exit the European Union euro system, the single European currency; abolish voting rights for foreigners; national preference for French people in matters of jobs and economic situations actually made constitutional.

So there you go. That is the person who came in second in France. We are expecting more demonstrations and more of the same.

The runoff is May 5. That's when Jacques Chirac, the incumbent president, and Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far right leader, will come together and will face off. Nobody at this point is expecting Jean- Marie Le Pen to score more than 20 percent of the vote, which means that Jacques Chirac will win in a landslide victory on May 5 -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So what made so many French people vote for this guy?

GORANI: Well, up until the first round, there were already predictions that the abstention rate would be very high. In other words, that French voters were feeling disenchanted. That voter apathy was really taking over, because there was a feeling that the main candidates, or those who we thought would be the two main candidates and the two front runners, there was a feeling that their policies were very similar, that they were becoming old. Lionel Jospin, the French prime minister of the Socialist Party, was a perceived as stiff, perhaps intellectual.

The campaign had been boring. That led to a polarization on either side of the political spectrum, on the far right on the one hand and the far left on the other. As a result, this protest vote for Jean-Marie Le Pen became, indeed, a winning vote for the far right candidate, and this is really something that we weren't expecting.

Expect also more demonstrations today and throughout the week from political opponents of the far right here in France -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Hala Gorani reporting live for us from Paris this morning -- thank you.

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