French set to usher in new era, but which one?

They head to polls Sunday in the first round of a historic presidential election.

By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the April 20, 2007 edition

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PARIS - In the last days before Round 1 of a historic French presidential election, conservative front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy paid his respects at the tomb of Charles de Gaulle. Ségolène Royal got out the working class vote by sympathizing with female cashiers at a Paris supermarket. And "third man" François Bayrou held a rally in a Paris stadium that holds 15,000 – and 17,000 showed up.

French voters in 2007 passionately want a change of course, but aren't sure which path to take or if any of the candidates can wrest France from its old social-welfare habits.

"My friends and I want a charismatic leader," says Benoit, a 29-year-old corporate lawyer strolling on the Left Bank. He may vote Sarkozy. "We want change, but we aren't sure how much. We talk about it all the time."

The 44.5 million voters in this proud but worried nation know the piper is calling, and that the elections are a watershed after decades of delayed reform: Shop-worn economic policies and new ethnic unrest put France at a crossroads. The road taken will shape a generation, as well as the future of Europe, experts say.

For nearly 40 years, France has lived with the same basic social model, one designed to deliver a generous "good life." As that model began to fray and overload in the 1980s, France's political elite delayed and delayed its reform.

The socialist economic model has brought heavy debt and doubts about French competitiveness. Large pockets of migrants in satellite suburbs around major cities are not well integrated – an issue that isn't going away. And its leadership position in Europe is in question.

"The era of [François] Mitterand's socialism is over," says an adviser in the French ruling cabinet, speaking of France's president in the 1980s. "Politicians on both the right and the left want something new. But they don't know what that is. Everyone's looking. But one thing this election has brought is a wake-up call. Politics is no longer dead in France."

Twelve candidates are running. That will likely narrow to two after Sunday, leading to a May 6 run off. For many French, the nominees are untested as leaders with gravitas – the Pepsi generation of France is about to choose a replacement for the grandfatherly Jacques Chirac. This is the first election since 1969 that Mr. Chirac isn't on the ballot.

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