The first round of the French Presential Elections are underway. Here is a list of the candidates:
Lionel Jospin
Current Prime Minister. Socialist.
Jacques Chirac
Incumbent. Markets himself as a ‘Conservative’ but his policies are virtually indistinguishable from those of Jospin.
Jean-Pierre Chevenement
Former Interior Minister. Marxist nationalist.
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Veteran National Socialist.
Bruno Megret
Another National Socialist.
Noel Mamere
Green Party.
Arlette Laguiller
Trotskyite Worker’s Struggle Party.
Robert Hue
Communist Party.
Francois Bayrou
Former Minister of Education. Centrist.
Jean Saint Josse
Hunting, Fishing, Shooting, Nature and Traditions Party.
Daniel Gluckstein
Party of Workers. Another Communist.
Christiane Taubira
Left Radical Party.
Olivier Besancenot
Revolutionary Communist League.
Corinne Lepage
Nationalist Enviromentalist.
Christine Boutin
Socialist.
Alain Madelin
Liberal Democracy Party. Advocates Anglo-Saxon style free market reforms. Very unpopular. Doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of even getting past the first round.
The two candidates polling the most votes go through to a run-off for the Presidency. It is widely expected that these will be Jospin and Chirac although Arlette Lagullier has been putting in a strong show and could pip either one of them.
