Socialist Scores Upset In Presidential Voting Lionel Jospin’s Victory Sets Up Left-Right Showdown In France

Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin scored a startling victory in the first round of the French presidential election Sunday, setting up a classic left-right showdown in a runoff vote two weeks from now against Gaullist leader Jacques Chirac.

Chirac, the conservative mayor of Paris, barely edged out his fellow Gaullist, Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, for the second spot on the run-off ballot in a race that confounded every major opinion poll. For weeks, national voter surveys had indicated Chirac would win a significant plurality of Sunday’s vote in his third try for the presidency, with Balladur and Jospin fighting for a chance to go head-to-head against him in the May 7 run-off.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigrant National Front, made his strongest showing ever in a national race and established himself as a possible kingmaker in the run-off round. His vote tally, combined with that of nationalist candidate Philippe de Villiers, gave the forces of the farright more than 20 percent of the ballots cast.

Chirac sought quickly to put his disappointing showing behind him by moving to reconcile with Balladur after a hostile campaign that ruptured their 30-year friendship. But while courting Balladur’s constituency, Chirac will also need to attract support from the far right if he hopes for a run-off victory against the leftist alliance that will rally behind Jospin.

Acknowledging his defeat, Balladur said he is ready to do everything necessary to prevent the left from retaining the presidency held for the past 14 years by Socialist Francois Mitterrand.

Chirac, looking shaken and dismayed, attributed the vote result to “the profound state of doubt and worry” afflicting the French people because of rampant unemployment and insecurity about the future. He issued an appeal to voters not to be swayed by “dangerous Socialist illusions.”