Chirac Takes High Ground in Bitter French Campaign

French President Jacques Chirac sought to play up his statesman's credentials on Monday, belittling the aggressiveness of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in an increasingly nasty presidential election campaign.

The move came after Jospin, a Socialist seeking to unseat Chirac, said he found the 69-year-old conservative president "tired, ageing, worn down and marked by passiveness".

Speaking to reporters at the weekend on the way back from a brief campaign trip to the French-ruled Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, 64-year-old Jospin said Chirac had "lost a lot of his energy and his drive".

The two men, who have ruled in an awkward "cohabitation" system of government since 1997, are locked in a close battle for the presidency with polls showing Jospin has a slight edge ahead of the two-round vote in April and May.

The campaign has taken on an increasingly cut-throat tone in recent days, with Jospin also urging voters not to let Chirac "abuse" them again by electing him for a second term.

In a veiled attack on Jospin, Chirac urged candidates for the presidency to keep the campaign clean.

"Certain candidates favour aggressiveness, arrogance and scorn over proposals and thought. I invite each to keep his composure," Chirac told Le Figaro.

(China Daily March 11, 2002)