French voters overwhelmingly re-elected President Mr Jacques Chirac today with more than 81 per cent of the vote in a huge victory over far-right leader Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen, according to partial vote tallies released by the interior ministry.
With three-quarters of the ballots counted, Mr Chirac has won 81.52 per cent of the vote, to 18.48 per cent for Mr Le Pen, the ministry said. Some 4.71 per cent of votes counted by 9:30 p.m. (7:30 Irish time) were blank votes.
The abstention rate was at 18.93 per cent, the ministry said. In the first round, some 28.4 percent of registered voters failed to go to the polls. In the second round of the 1995 election, abstention stood at 20.3 per cent.
Mr Chirac won on a wave of support from across the mainstream political spectrum and following an election campaign marked by mass street protests against Le Pen's anti-Europe and anti-immigrant views.
It was the biggest margin of victory ever in French presidential elections.
Mr Le Pen's score represented an increase over the 16.86 per cent he scored in the April 21st first round election.
The landslide defeat of Mr Le Pen and his National Front set off celebrations across France, with a large crowd gathering at Paris' Place de la Republique to fete Mr Chirac and hear an impromptu address from the jubilant president.
Mr Le Pen however tried to brush off the defeat and said his party was looking forward to a solid showing in legislative elections next month.
"We are very confident about the future," he said in a post-vote press conference.
Mr Chirac told French voters tonight he had understood their calls for reform and would soon appoint a transition government that would make fighting crime and boosting economic growth its priorities.
Mr Chirac made no mention of his rival, shunned far-right leader Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen, and stressed France remained loyal to its ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity.
Mr Chirac said the vote meant the French wanted to remain open to Europe and the world with reforms in domestic politics. "We will respond to this appeal," he said.
"The priorities of the new government would be to re-establish the authority of the state, respond to the demands for security and put France on a new path of growth and employment," he said.
Socialist Prime Minister Mr Lionel Jospin, edged out by Mr Le Pen in a first round of voting two weeks ago, is due to step down tomorrow, leaving Mr Chirac to name an interim government to run the country until a parliamentary election next month.
Mr Le Pen (73) leader of the anti-immigrant National Front party, stunned Europe on April 21st when he edged past Socialist Prime Minister Mr Lionel Jospin to enter the runoff from a crowded field with 16.9 per cent of the vote to 19.9 per cent for Mr Chirac.
"I make it a principle to be optimistic before one's fate is known," he told reporters.