FRANCE: French far right leader Le Pen urges supporters to boycott 2nd round of election

French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen laid flowers at the statue of Joan of Arc in Paris on Tuesday (May 1) and urged his supporters not to vote for either candidate in Sunday's (May 6) second round of the presidential election. The National Front leader was knocked out of the race in the first round on April 22 but his 3.8 million voters, like the 6.8 million who cast their ballots for centrist Francois Bayrou, could still weigh heavily in the second round, in which conservative frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy will face Socialist Segolene Royal. An opinion poll published on Monday (April 30) showed 89 percent of Le Pen's voters were likely to vote for Sarkozy, but the former interior minister's name evoked even more boos at the rally than Socialists such as Royal or former president Francois Mitterrand. Le Pen's refusal to endorse Sarkozy, a law-and-order hardliner he says has poached many of his ideas on immigration and national identity, reflects his resentment at what he considers has been discrimination by France's political establishment. He also warned against a vote for Royal. "I invite the voters who showed their confidence in me to give their vote neither to Madame Royal nor to Mr Sarkozy," Le Pen told thousands of supporters at a rally in Paris to commemorate the medieval heroine Joan of Arc. Le Pen said he wanted voters to wait until parliamentary elections in June before voting. Sarkozy, 52, who won a clear victory in the first round, earlier dismissed any suggestion that he would need endorsement from any other political leaders. Sarkozy's dismissal of Le Pen reflects the confidence given by his consistent poll lead and his desire to woo the undecided centrist voters who may hold the key to the election. But he knows that he cannot afford to take the National Front leader's supporters entirely for granted either. Le Pen shocked France by defeating the Socialist candidate in the early round of the last election in 2002, before being thrashed in a runoff against Jacques Chirac; this time he was fourth in the first round.

ITN Source | May 1, 2007

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