Preliminary results in the French presidential elections pointed to a May 6 runoff between Nicolas Sarkozy — a candidate favored by many French Jews — and Segolene Royal. Exit polls indicated that Sarkozy, the UMP Party candidate, garnered 29 percent to 30 percent of the vote. Royal, the Socialist candidate, received 25 percent to 26 percent. They were the top two vote-getters in a field of 10 that included the Centre Party’s Francois Bayrou, who had 18.5 percent; and extreme right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, 11 percent. Voter turnout was higher than France has seen in 50 years — 87 percent of the country’s 44.5 million eligible voters cast ballots. Many French Jews are seen as backing Sarkozy, known as an American-style law-and-order politician, for his hard line against Muslim unrest in France, including anti-Semitic attacks. Royal drew fire from the community for meeting with Hezbollah lawmakers in Beirut during a Mideast tour in December. “I would like to say to all the French people who are afraid of the future that I will protect them against violence and delinquency,” Sarkozy told supporters in Paris after the early results were announced.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
