FRANCE: COMMUNIST PARTY URGE SUPPORTERS TO VOTE FOR CONSERVATIVE JACQUES CHIRAC TO BLOCK RIGHT-WING JEAN MARIE LE PEN

Record ID: 328666

  • Title: FRANCE: COMMUNIST PARTY URGE SUPPORTERS TO VOTE FOR CONSERVATIVE JACQUES CHIRAC TO BLOCK RIGHT-WING JEAN MARIE LE PEN
  • Date: 24th April 2002
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FILE - APRIL 11, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SUPPORTERS AT THE FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY'S CAMPAIGN RALLY 0.03 2. LAS PRESIDENT OF FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY ROBERT HUE ADDRESSING SUPPORTERS ON STAGE; HUE ON STAGE (2 SHOTS) 0.12 PARIS, FRANCE (23 APRIL 2002) (REUTERS) 3. SLV INTERIOR NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY MEETING; MV ROBERT HUE LEAVING NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETING 0.24 4. SOUNDBITE (French) HUE SAYING "Don't ask me anything. There will be a meeting with the press. But don't be afraid, I will have the opportunity to talk to you. On Monday, there is another meeting of the National Council." 0.43 5. MV LEADER OF THE FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY MARIE-GEORGE BUFFET; MV BUFFET LEAVING NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETING; MV MEDIA AND PRESS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 1.08 6. SOUNDBITE (French) COMMUNIST BUFFET SAYING "The score of the French Communist Party was historically low. The situation is extremely serious for our party. I think we need to launch a debate, that the debate has already started. I think we have not been able to give enough visibility to the project of modern communism that we have been elaborating during all those years." 1.37 7. SLV BUFFET DURING NEWS CONFERENCE 1.44 8. SOUNDBITE (French) BUFFET SAYING "The National Council has confirmed the position taken by the Executive Committee yesterday. The French Communist Party called on all men and women to choose the bulletin marked Jacques Chirac, to keep the score of the extreme right as low as possible. And when I am saying this, it will not simply be an appeal. We will campaign for it, we will address our request to all French men and women. For the future of our country and our people, I believe that it is extremely important that Le Pen is beaten on the 5th of May." 2.23 9. SLV BUFFET DURING NEWS CONFERENCE 2.28 10. SOUNDBITE (French) BUFFET "We launch a very wide appeal to subscription. We have to collect several millions before the end of June because we have, like any families should know, to pay the bills." 2.40 11. MV SUPPORTER OF THE FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY HOLDING APPEAL FOR SUBSCRIPTION; SCU PIECE OF PAPER APPEALING FOR SUBSCRIPTION FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (2 SHOTS) 2.49 12. SCU SUPPORTER SIGNING CHEQUE OF THREE HUNDRED EUROS TO THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE FINANCING OF THE FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY; MV SUPPORTER CLOSING ENVELOPE AND DROPPING IT TO A BOX, THE FIRST ONE INSIDE THE BOX (5 SHOTS) 3.10 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 9th May 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVABJXADXZBPYMRXNORDR8R1YEPN
  • Story Text: Swallowing their pride, the French Communist party,
    once the most important in Europe, have urged their supporters
    to vote for conservative Jacques Chirac as the best way to
    block Le Pen from power, and have launched a wide appeal for
    subscriptions as they urgently need fresh cash.

    It was a humiliating result for the once-mighty
    Communists, whose Robert Hue won only 3.6 percent -- a score
    lower than those of twoTrotskyites, a Thatcherite, a leftist
    patriot, an ecologist and a hunting and fishing advocate.

    Everyone kept a low profile when members of the National
    Council of the French Communist Party convened on Tuesday
    (April 23) at the headquarters of the French Communist Party.

    Their President, Robert Hue, managed to smile but was not
    willing to comment on the situation. And to prevent any rumour
    of resignation, he said that he will have more opportunities
    to speak in the near future.

    In a rare self-criticism, the Party's National Secretary
    Marie-George Buffet - who is also the Minister of Sports and
    Youth in the leftist coalition government of Lionel Jospin -
    said at a news conference that "The score of the French
    Communist Party was historically low. The situation is
    extremely serious for our party... I think we have not been
    able to give enough visibility to the project of modern
    communism that we have been elaborating during all those
    years."
    Swallowing its pride, the Executive Committee of the
    Communist party officially urged their supporters on Monday
    (April 22) to vote for Chirac as the only way to block Le Pen
    from power. The National Council confirmed today this
    decision in a resolution. "The French Communist Party called
    on all men and women to choose the bulletin marked Jacques
    Chirac, to keep the score of the extreme right as low as
    possible", said Marie-George Buffet. The Socialist Party took
    the same stance, and also appealed to vote for Mr. Chirac.

    They managed to put their pride aside. But it's not
    enough. They also need some fresh cash.

    In France, each party winning more that five per cent of
    the vote have their campaign expenses reimbursed by the State
    be it posters, TV and radio spots, costs of meetings. And
    for the first time in its history, the Communist Party didn't
    get five per cent of the vote at the first round of
    presidential election. The financial consequences are so
    serious for the party that they launched an urgent
    subscription campaign.

    Still referring to French francs, Marie-George Buffet
    said "We have to collect several millions before the end of
    June because we have, like any families should know, to pay
    the bills." The party launched a subscription for 1.5 millions
    Euros ( 1.3 million US dollars).

    One of the first militant to respond to the appeal, a
    woman signed a cheque for three hundred Euros. Very upset, she
    explained that when she started voting for the communist
    party, they were scoring a twenty five percent of the votes.

    She added that she has always been voting for the communist
    party at the first round, for the socialist at the second
    round. She did so to encourage the plurality of the left.

    Through most of the 20th century, the French Communist
    Party was probably the most important outside Russia and
    China. During the early Cold War years, its influence on
    France's intellectual life was immense. After the fall of the
    Berlin wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union, it
    has struggled to redefine itself.


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