French voters in Switzerland lean to the right

French voters must now choose between Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal on May 6 Keystone

Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Ségolène Royal have advanced to the run-off for the French presidency on May 6.

But had the election been left to French voters in Switzerland, centrist Francois Bayrou would have made it into the second round.

More than 76,500 French nationals living in Switzerland, the largest French expatriate community in the world, had been expected to vote in Sunday’s presidential elections – almost three times the number in 2002.

Sarkozy collected 31.2 per cent of the vote in France, Royal 25.9 per cent, Bayrou 18.6 per cent and far-right head Jean-Marie Le Pen 10.44 per cent.

However, Sylvain Guetaz from the French embassy in Switzerland said French voters in Switzerland – 46.47 per cent of whom voted – gave Sarkozy a clear lead of 38.9 per cent and Bayrou just short of a quarter of the vote. Royal came third with 23.8 per cent.

Guetaz added Le Pen received only 3.9 per cent of the vote in Switzerland, compared with 10.5 per cent in France. In the 2002 elections eight per cent of French in Switzerland voted for Le Pen – half the figure in France.

Battle over the centre

Sarkozy, aiming to soften the “tough cop” image that helped him siphon votes from the far-right, struck a conciliatory tone before ecstatic party faithful soon after the polls closed. He must now woo centrist voters if he is to win the run-off.

Apart from the two-horse campaign over the next two weeks between Sarkozy and Royal, who are due to hold a televised debate on May 2, all eyes will be on centrist leader Bayrou to see if he advises his voters to back either candidate.

But whoever replaces Chirac will inherit a fractured country that has the highest unemployment rate of any major industrial power and multi-ethnic suburbs simmering with discontent.

Sarkozy wants the French to work harder and pay less tax, and is promising swift reforms to curb union powers, slim government and toughen sentencing for repeat offenders.

Royal, a regional leader who has held only junior government posts, has promised to raise the minimum wage, create 500,000 jobs for young workers and wants to reward companies that innovate and invest in France.

Logistical challenge

Nearly 60 voting stations – the heaviest concentration outside France – were set up to ensure expatriate voters had their say on who will succeed President Jacques Chirac.

Ballot boxes were open across Switzerland from 8am to 6pm on Sunday in what France’s consul general Nicolas Mettra said was a “major logistical challenge”.

There were 50 voting stations in the six French-speaking cantons, including 20 in Geneva. In addition there were three in Zurich, two in the capital Bern, two in Basel, one in Lucerne and one in Italian-speaking Lugano.

“We have had excellent collaboration and help from the Swiss authorities,” Mettra told swissinfo. “Communes have put at our disposal locations and material that are used for Swiss voters. But we have had to import urns from France, because in France they must be transparent.”

The first round ballot was supervised by a 500-strong army of volunteers raised from the ranks of expatriate voters and trained by a special team drafted in from Paris.

swissinfo

In brief

Around 940,000 expatriate French voters were eligible to vote in Sunday’s first round of voting – 820,000 of these had registered with the authorities.

The French living in Switzerland form the largest French community abroad, with 160,000 members.

In Switzerland 63,592 expatriates registered to vote with the French consulate in Geneva, and 12,856 signed up in Zurich.

In the first round of voting in 2002, French voters in Switzerland favoured Chirac (22%), Lionel Jospin (17%), Noël Mamère (10%) and Le Pen (8%).

In France 12 senators (out of 331) represent the French abroad (three on the left and nine on the right).