Unbelievable turn of events in France !!

Le Figaro ^

[FranceForBushInAustin]

No socialist or communist candidates at the second round of the presidential election.

The current president Chirac came up with 20% while the candidate for the Extreme Right Le Pen took the second spot with 18%/

The current socialist Prime Minister came third with 16% thus out of contention for the second round !

[tomahawk]

If the exit polls are accurate, my reaction is WOW!

[Pokey78]

GO PAT GO!.....I mean.... GO LE PEN GO!

[Gordian Blade]

The French are still having trouble figuring out that the antidote to socialism is not fascism.

[AmishDude]

I've had this theory that the reason Britain, France and Germany have been so pro-Pali is that the governments are socialist and try to get the Muslim immigrants as their constituencies.

How are Chirac and Le Pen on Israel and the terror war in general?

[ChicagoRepublican]

I never thought I would see the day when Le Pen would be close to winning an election. The guy is a f@cking lunatic. He is pretty much a rascist against Muslims in southern France AND the blacks in France.

[Semper911]

I think I heard that all the candidates surrendered.

[Pokey78]

From MSNBC:

Far-right upset in French poll

PARIS, April 21 — In a stunning upset in France’s presidential race, far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen trumped Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to face incumbent President Jacques Chirac in a runoff for the country’s top post, according to media projections based on exit polls on Sunday. The first round of voting in France was marked by widespread disenchantment with the presidential race, which pushed turnout to a record low.

THE INTERIOR MINISTRY said less than 60 percent of the electorate had turned out to vote by 5:00 p.m. local time (9:00 a.m. ET). Pollster CSA published a forecast that about 29 percent would have snubbed the vote by the end of polling.

That figure would be a record low for the first round of a presidential election in France’s 44-year-old Fifth Republic.

The poor turnout came despite near perfect voting conditions, with most of the country enjoying brilliant sunshine and clear skies during the day.

Extremists like Le Pen have gained ground amid the voter apathy and one could emerge as a surprise power broker in the second round. Le Pen had been predicted to win third place behind Chirac and Jospin.

A strong vote for Le Pen would be worrying for Chirac, as it could split the right-wing vote in the legislative elections, meaning that, even if he wins the presidency, he could be forced into another term of “cohabitation” with the left.

Chirac, 69, is a charismatic crowd-pleaser who has seemingly shrugged off sleaze allegations that have dogged the latter years of his presidency.

Accompanied by his wife Bernadette and carrying a bunch of lilies, Chirac cast his vote in the town of Sarran in the central region of Correze, his family base.

Jospin, 64, is a stiff former professor who has struggled to capitalize on his government’s positive economic record since its surprise election in 1997 after Chirac gambled on dissolving parliament to return a conservative majority and lost.

He voted in the town of Cintegabelle in the southwest, where he is a regional official. Accompanied by campaign aides, he had a quick drink in a local cafe before leaving.

“This is quite a handful,” he joked to electoral officials of the 16 ballot papers, one each for each candidate, that voters must theoretically take with them into the polling booth.

Anxious not to alienate centrist voters who hold the decisive votes in the second round, the two top contenders have run defensive campaigns with law and order and lower taxes the main issues, but the strategy appears to have backfired.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

[joeyman]

He is pretty much a rascist against Muslims in southern France AND the blacks in France.

Maybe the French don't like the fact that they have 3rd world enclaves that create a lot of the crime in their country. Maybe multiculturalism should be a two way street (see any 3rd world countries embracing Positive Western Values?)

[Austin Willard Wright]

How well did the free market liberals do under Madelen (sp?)? They are the best hope for France. La Pen, of course, would never win a general election.

[newwahoo]

Somebody on another thread said that Le Pen support has been underestimated in the past. Kudos to that poster whoever you are- you nailed that prediction.

[ChicagoRepublican]

So they should vote for a level headed conservative. They should not vote for an absolutely insane man. A person that makes Pat Buchanan, whom I despise, seem moderate. Le Pen doesn't even recognize the Holocaust as a horrible event.

[martin_fierro]

Mon Dieu! C'est incroyable!

[The Great Satan]

Remember, Bridget Bardot is a convicted "hate criminial" in France, for publicly suggesting that Muslims "are not civilized." My guess is that the situation in Europe is deteriorating rapidly: people are looking at 9-11 and seeing their own future, when Islamacist demands can no longer be countered by burnt offerings to the God of Anti-Semitism. Check out Oriana Fallaci's view on Muslim immigration to Italy in Anger and Pride for another anti-Islamic perspective.

[veronica]

I have read that Le Pen is anti-immigrant and anti-Arab. Don't know where he stands on Israel. Friends tell me they see him as having a DeGaulle Nationalistic attitude. "Vive Le France" and to Hell with the rest of the world.

[dr_who]

Since when have the French been level-headed? They're more likely to sever other people's heads!

[Austin Willard Wright]

I agree that La Pen is a racist and should be defeated but France needs a radical free marketeer not another bland "level-headed conservative."

[Willie Green]

A person that makes Pat Buchanan, whom I despise...

Do you despise PJB because he's a pro-life Irish-Catholic male...
or do you simply despise America First?

[LarryLied]

Maybe if most of the 600,000+ Jews in France didn't vote for Trotskyite or worse candidates who let third world riffraff destroy French culture, there would not be a Le Pen.

Btw...I hear several Jews in France are not socialists but are officials in the Front National

[bourbon]

We can at least celebrate the removal of the mendacious Trotskyite Jospin from the political scene for now.