Chirac won’t seek re-election
PARIS – French President Jacques Chirac said Sunday that he will not seek a third term next month, opening the way for a new generation of leaders to take over a country struggling to halt the erosion of its economy, social cohesion and global standing.
“I will not ask for your votes for a new mandate,” Chirac, 74, told a national television audience in a long-anticipated announcement that reflected his age, failing health and abysmal public opinion ratings. The news media declared his political obituary months ago, but Chirac delayed announcing his decision for fear of becoming an even more obvious lame duck, according to political analysts and government officials.
His face occasionally contorted with emotion, Chirac said that at the end of his current term, after 12 years as president, “the moment will have come for me to serve you in a different fashion.”
He did not endorse his party’s candidate, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, for the first round in the presidential elections April 22. But in a clear reference to the far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, who stunned the country by making it to a runoff with Chirac in the previous election, the president urged voters to reject extremism, racism and anti-Semitism.
“It is a poison,” Chirac said. “It divides, it perverts, it destroys. Everything that is the soul of France says no to extremism.”
Chirac’s years as president have been extraordinarily uneven, and he leaves a mixed legacy. He will be most remembered by Americans for rallying international support against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Despite his strong support for a new European Union constitution, French voters rejected it in a referendum – one of the most dramatic defeats of his presidency.
To many French, Chirac has personified the image of a regal French leader: polished and debonair, at times bluntly critical of other European countries and allies, fond of high living and a staunch defender of French language and culture. His 45-year career in public service has also included two terms as prime minister and 18 years as mayor of Paris.
But during his tenure in the Elysee Palace, Chirac has overseen an era of deepening national malaise. His efforts at reform failed, unemployment remained stubbornly high, discrimination worsened and France’s clout overseas diminished. After riots in the suburbs of Paris in 2005 and labor and student strikes last year, Chirac’s popularity plunged to record lows. In one survey, only 2 percent of those polled said they wanted him to run for a third term.
In September 2005 he had a mini-stroke, and with his plummeting popularity and strong leadership challenges within his party, he lowered his public profile dramatically.
He has been dogged for years by allegations of corruption during his time as Paris mayor, and many of his top assistants from those days have been convicted on corruption charges. When he leaves the presidency, Chirac will lose his immunity from prosecution. Many of his political opponents say they want to see him indicted, but political analysts say they think that is unlikely.