Far-right aids bid of controversial Frenchman

Elaine Ganley

PARIS — A far-right leader who shocked France with a second-place finish in the 2002 presidential election received a boost this week from the governing conservative party, improving his chances of running again next year.

The head of the conservative Union for a Popular Movement, or UMP, in France’s lower house said that 78-year-old Jean-Marie Le Pen, head of the anti-immigration National Front party, should be allowed to contest the April 22 first-round vote.

“For the democracy, for the health of the democracy, it is better that he be present,” Bernard Accoyer said last Thursday.

Presidential hopefuls need 500 signatures from elected officials around the country, usually mayors, to become candidates. Le Pen has said that the process is hard going, particularly because names of backers are published for all to see.

Le Pen has long been a fixture on the French political scene, but he has been convicted of racism and anti-Semitism and association with him can stigmatize mainstream politicians.

“All French should be able to express themselves when they vote. And it must be recognized that, even if I combat his ideas, Mr. Le Pen united a significant, important part of the French,” Accoyer said during a radio-television interview.

Le Pen usually receives up to 15 percent of votes in elections. In the first-round of the 2002 presidential vote, which featured a bevy of candidates splitting the left, he had nearly 16.9 percent — just three percentage points behind President Jacques Chirac.

Some within Chirac’s governing UMP worry where Le Pen voters might go if he is not present. Those voters could “take revenge” to the detriment of Nicolas Sarkozy, the law-and-order interior minister and likely UMP presidential candidate, the daily Le Monde newspaper quoted lawmaker Herve Novelli as saying.

Others argue Le Pen’s absence could be good news for Sarkozy, whose hammering at the ills of massive immigration is seen by many as a wink in the direction of National Front supporters.

Accoyer reminded public officials that “giving a signature so that this or that candidate can be present in the first round is in no way supporting the ideas of this or that candidate.”

The comment raised a ruckus, leading Accoyer to give a clarification last Friday, saying he was not suggesting that officials of the governing party sign off on Le Pen. He added that he had “no connivance with the extremes” of the political spectrum.

That did not stop Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin from adding his voice to Accoyer’s. Asked about the issue last Friday, Villepin said he would like to see “the diversity of the presidential election preserved.”

“The life of a democracy is not only the large parties ... It’s important that all those whose opinion has resonance in the life of our country can take part in a presidential election,” Villepin said.

Le Pen, who opened a three-day “presidential convention” last Friday northeast of Paris, said he “hopes to have” the needed 500 signatures — but would not divulge how many he has.

(Associated Press)