Outside View: How France is now EU key

04/23/2007

CANNES, France (UPI) -- The first round of France`s presidential election has set the stage for an epic duel between left and right, and between two sharply different visions of the modern post-industrial state, whose outcome is likely to determine the future of Europe.

The conservative Nicolas Sarkozy of the ruling UMP (Union for a Presidential Majority) party won 31.11 percent of the unprecedented high voter turnout, and the Socialist Party`s Segolene Royal won 25.84 percent. Both go through to the second and final round of voting in two weeks time. The other 10 candidates, including the centrist Francois Bayrou with 18.55 percent and the far-right Jean-Marie le Pen with 10.51 percent of the vote, were all eliminated.

So the question now is whether Royal, the first woman with a serious chance of becoming France`s president, can win enough of those votes to build an anti-Sarkozy coalition and win the 50.1 percent of the votes now required for victory. One key component of her anti-Sarkozy strategy will be to make the next vote a referendum on President George W. Bush and Sarkozy`s pro-American stance.

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