VZCZCXRO3095
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHFR #1611/01 1122056
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 222056Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6663
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHMRE/AMCONSUL MARSEILLE 1679
RUEHSR/AMCONSUL STRASBOURG 0407
RUEHC/DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001611 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT ALSO FOR EUR/WE, DRL/IL, INR/EUC, EUR/ERA, EUR/PPD, 
AND EB 
DEPT OF COMMERCE FOR ITA 
DEPT OF LABOR FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ELAB EU FR PINR SOCI ECON
SUBJECT: SARKOZY LEADS ROYAL INTO SECOND ROUND OF 
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 
 
REF: A. (A) PARIS 1595 AND PREVIOUS 
 
     ¶B. (B) EMBASSY PARIS DAILY SIPRNET REPORT FOR APRIL 
        20 
     ¶C. 2007 
 
PARIS 00001611  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
¶1.  (U) In the first round of France's 2007 presidential 
election, center-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy clearly 
bested center-left candidate Segolene Royal, with centrist 
candidate Francois Bayrou coming in third.  As expected, 
therefore, Royal and Sarkozy will go on to the second round 
of the election May 6.  Royal will seek to mobilize an 
"anyone but Sarkozy" sentiment in her quest to become 
France's first woman president.  Bayrou's voters will be key 
to the second-round outcome. 
 
¶2. (U)  At 8 P.M. Paris time on the evening of April 22, 
France's Ministry of the Interior released the official, 
preliminary results of the 2007 presidential election's first 
round: Nicolas Sarkozy, Union for Popular Movement (UMP), 30 
percent; Segolene Royal, Socialist Party (PS), 25.2 percent; 
Francois Bayrou, Union for French Democracy (UDF), 18.3 
percent; Jean-Marie Le Pen, National Front (FN), 11.5 
percent.  Official, updated vote totals )- for all 12 
first-round contenders )- are posted on the French Ministry 
of the Interior's website at www.interieur.gouv.fr. 
 
RECORD TURN-OUT 
--------------- 
¶3.  (U) Just under 85 percent of France's nearly 44.5 million 
registered voters turned out to vote on Sunday, April 22. 
Good weather and enormous enthusiasm for this election -- 
voters clearly felt an important choice was theirs to make -- 
conspired to produce the record turn-out. 
 
THE WINNER REALLY WON 
--------------------- 
¶4.  (U) Both Sarkozy and Royal, as has been expected, will be 
going on to the second-round face-off May 6.  Sarkozy's 
clear-cut first place finish over Royal boosts his momentum 
going into their two-week head-to-head second-round campaign. 
 Sarkozy however, remains a polarizing figure.  The prospect 
of a right-wing Sarkozy presidency will be used by Royal to 
stir up an "anybody but Sarkozy" mobilization that she is 
counting on for an upset victory in the second round. 
Sarkozy is expected to highlight the conciliatory and 
centrist features of his vision for France, along with "a 
clear-cut choice between two visions of French society, two 
systems of values," as he called for in his victory statement. 
 
EXTREMES AT NEW LOWS 
-------------------- 
¶5.  (U) The candidates of France's three mainstream parties 
took almost three quarters of the votes cast.  The extreme 
right and the extreme left, which in the first round of the 
last presidential election in 2002 edged towards nearly half 
the votes cast, saw their combined vote total halved in this 
election.  Francois Bayrou, leader of the centrist, Union for 
French Democracy (UDF) party nearly tripled his vote count 
compared to 2002, receiving a record centrist vote.  The 
record turn-out, along with record number of new voters (3.3 
million more registered voters than in 2002) was clearly part 
of the dynamic that largely marginalized both the extreme 
right and far left. 
 
THE RESULTS 
----------- 
¶6.  (U) At 8 P.M. Paris time on the evening of April 22, 
France's Ministry of the Interior posted the official, 
preliminary results of the 2007 presidential election's first 
round: Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP), 30 percent; Segolene Royal, PS, 
25.2 percent; Francois Bayrou, Union for French Democracy 
(UDF), 18.3 percent; Jean-Marie Le Pen, National Front (FN); 
11.5 percent.  Official, updated vote totals )- for all 12 
first-round contenders )- are posted on the French Ministry 
of the Interior's website at www.interieur.gouv.fr. 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
 
PARIS 00001611  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
STAPLETON