What the French elected in Chirac on May 7 was the national leadership of the most solidly right-wing government that has ever ruled the country at the local, regional, and national levels. The majority coalition controls two-thirds of French city halls and 21 regions out of 22. It possesses an 80 percent majority in Parliament. Chirac projected himself as the candidate of change and promised to slash unemployment and bridge the gap dividing French society. Postelection commentaries noted that, with such unprecedented backing, he would meet with all-the-less indulgence if he failed.
For France also elected a morally strong opposition this spring. Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin, chosen belatedly by a party still reeling from two blistering electoral defeats, staged that rare event in political history: a genuine upset. Confounding every preelection prediction, he won the first round of voting, held on April 23. His 47 percent score in the second round--more than anyone had thought possible--helped reforge the Socialist Party. It also served as a reminder that Chirac's public support is less monolithic than his hold on the political institutions implies.
Indeed, the election of Chirac as France's 22nd president was by no means a foregone conclusion. He was trailing badly in the polls when he announced his candidacy a mere five months before the election. Les Guignols, France's immensely popular television news satire, portrayed him as a hopeless loser reduced to waving pom-poms and shouting through a bullhorn to make himself heard.
When the tide turned in the early spring, even veteran observers like Michel Brulé, cofounder of the BVA Polling Institute, were amazed: "It's not so much the decline of Prime Minister
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