Chirac seeks solace on home turf as apathy rises

One week before French voters go to the polls, President Jacques Chirac was out on the campaign trail, doing what he always does best: courting the locals on his home territory and former constituency of the Corrèze.

With a new poll showing the gap between him and his only real rival, the Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin narrowing again to just one point, (50.5 to 49.5), the presidential contest is as close as it could possibly be.

But the chief enemy for both men is widespread electoral apathy. Although a record number of candidates is on the ballot paper for Sunday's first round, polls show that voters regard a Chirac-Jospin second-round run-off on 5 May as a foregone conclusion and will treat the first round as a chance to show their dissatisfaction with that choice, if they turn out at all.

Yesterday's poll, by IFOP for Le Journal du Dimanche, showed the two main candidates receiving less than 20 per cent of the first-round vote each, (19 per cent for Mr Chirac, 17 for Mr Jospin), with the National Front attracting 9.6, and Arlette Laguiller's far left party 8 per cent, at level pegging with the independent former Socialist minister, Jean-Pierre Chevenement.

As Mr Chirac well knew, apathy would not be a problem when he toured the Corrèze at the weekend. In the presidential election seven years ago, he received more than 60 per cent of the first-round vote in his fiefdom where he and his wife, Bernadette, an elected councillor have a chateau near Sarran.

This year, after seven years as President, Mr Chirac's welcome was as warm as ever. On Saturday evening, more than 4,000 people turned out for the rally in the dour regional capital, Ussel, too many for the safety of the sports hall, necessitating a closed-circuit link of his address to the adjacent indoor tennis court. "The video will be relayed there," said the chairman over the public address system, "and, of course, the sound," he added quickly, to laughter.

A thick mist shrouded the hills, blotting out all sight of the dramatic volcanic landscape. Yet still the crowds had come: some by bus from other parts of the Limousin region, many by car, others had trudged on foot from Ussel itself, where police tried gamely to keep the traffic moving and get everyone to the rally on time. Given that this was the head of state, security seemed light to negligible. But Mr Chirac was as politically assured as ever, and at home.

In a black jacket and brown scarf, he almost leapt from his car to shake hands and acknowledge the shouts of "Chi-rac, Chir-ac" from the waiting crowd. People in the block of flats opposite parted their net curtains, just enough to gaze down and wave; the President waved back, to the whoops of the crowd.

Mr Chirac was introduced as a quintessential local boy made good, who had used successive political offices, member of parliament, prime minister and now president to bring jobs and improve facilities in his beloved Corrèze.

Mr Chirac treated his audience, which included many small businesspeople and farmers, to a substantial speech on rural policy, promising more jobs, more freedom from central bureaucracy for local organisations and measures to combat crime. He said: "It is tragic to have to talk about crime in such a rural area as this, but this is what five years of Socialist government has brought us to."

Crime has been identified as a particular concern of voters in this election, a concern reinforced by the recent mass-shooting in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre.