France's undemocratic election

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MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Romanov) - The first round of the presidential election in France passed off as expected.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the candidate of the ruling conservative party, scored 31.2% of the vote, and Segolene Royal, his main Socialist rival and potentially France's first woman president, received 25.7%, according to preliminary official reports. The run-off has been slated for May 6.

Right of Sarkozy stands Jean-Marie Le Pen (10.5% of the vote), a far-right nationalist politician, and left of Royal is a group of left-wing radicals comprising Communists, Trotskyites and Greens, who long ago abandoned their rallying cry for a cleaner environment.

It is not clear if Le Pen's supporters will vote for Sarkozy, but all minor left-wing parties have called on their constituents to vote for Royal, which promises her an additional 11% and will substantially increase her chances in the second round.

The result of the May 6 run-off will lead to sweeping changes in France. The power of the president makes the country largely dependent on who is in office, and France under de Gaulle, Mitterrand and Chirac was three vastly different countries.

It will be a different France either with Sarkozy or with Royal as its first female president. A strong and extravagant man, Sarkozy will pursue a much tougher foreign and domestic policy, whereas Royal's policies will not have Sarkozy's sharp corners.

I am not referring to their political stands, but only to their personal traits. Their political preferences are apparent: Sarkozy will pursue traditional right-wing European policies, whereas Royal is a traditional Social Democrat.

The less obvious winner of the first stage is centrist Francois Bayrou, who gained 18.5%. According to exit polls, Bayrou, had he made it to the second round, would have won the election hands down. He is a compromise politician who suits the majority of the French.

I do not know what kind of president Bayrou would have become, but his political positions look better for the French than the programs of Sarkozy and Royal, who are splitting the country into right- and left-wing camps. Bayrou would have united it.

The French race has shown that the election system in the "democratic West" is not as democratic as it may seem at first glance. If Western democracy does not want to become ossified, but rather to show genuine respect for the opinions of minorities, it should analyze the lessons of the French elections, where the minority candidate, Bayrou, garnered 18.5% of the vote, representing a considerable part of the French electorate.

The real task of democracy is not so much to determine the winner in a presidential race, as to find the most suitable leader for the country.

The current election system cannot do this. It is not a subtle competition involving may players, but a battle of giants that divides the battlefield between winners and losers. The former usually believe that victory gives them the right to do whatever they please, whereas the latter reject the winners' policy outright and start preparing for a new battle immediately after the elections.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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