http://www.paris.org/Ric/apr/23apr95/ (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
Les Pages de Paris | Naviguer
The Paris Pages | Navigate
In the case of today's balloting, the campaign has been even longer: 5110 days. This is how long conservatives in France have been wishing to unseat the current President, M. François Mitterrand, a lifelong socialist. Practically every Sunday night for the past 728 weeks, the evening news on the three main television networks, has been devoted to the campaign. On Fridays the politicians leave Paris and return to their constituencies, where often as not they are also mayors; to shake hands and spread good tidings about their endeavours in the capital. And, as if there is no other major news to report, and even if there is, the French must be informed of these momentous weekend events. This is every Sunday evening, except for perhaps two weeks in the middle of August when the country is 'closed'.
One hundred sixty-eight months is a long time. The conservatives are so determined that the rule of socialism be over, that they are running not one but two candidates, Jacgues Chirac and Edouard Balladur, from the same party, the R.P.R., against a lone socialist, Lionel Jospin. There are actually six other candidates, all worthy, and as the campaign entered its final phase, French television introduced all of the candidates equally to viewers.
Edouard Balladur - Prime Minister of France, and
presidential candidate - Believe in France.
Despite the length of the campaign, the home-stretch has been almost as exciting as a day at Longchamps, Paris' main flat racing track. All of the three major candidates have lead the polls at one time or another; some of them more than once. This has been interpreted as indecisiveness by perhaps 30 to 40 percent of potential voters, out of a total of over 40 million.
Jacques Chirac - Mayor of Paris, and presidential candidate -
France for everyone.
Polls are forbidden for the last week of the campaign. The last official campaigning ended at midnight on Friday, 32 hours before today's opening of polling stations and the ballot boxes throughout France and its overseas departments and territories. Polls are generally open for 12 hours, from 8 am to 8 pm, so that makes a total of 40 hours of total suspense out of a campaign totalling 122,640 hours.
Yes. Suspense. Hold on to your betting tickets.
Return to Richard Erickson's Paris Journal
Updated 04/95