PARIS -- So far, 10 men and two women have entered the race for the French presidential election in April and May. Only one of them has a small chance of being present in the second round -- Jean-Pierre Chevenement, former socialist minister for domestic affairs, whose hostility to the European Union, Corsican nationalism and rising street violence seems to bring him some support from the political right and left.
But he would need a miracle to win the election. The latest polls for the first ballot give him a maximum 11 percent. No other candidate, including the Greens or rightist Jean-Marie le Pen, can hope to reach the 10 percent threshold.
The Communist Party will have to be satisfied with a modest 5 or 6 percent, practically equal to what veteran Trotskyist Arlette Laguiller can expect. What a decline for a party that 50 years ago controlled up to 27 percent of the French electorate!