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A French election that Puducherry intensely debated

Rajesh Nair

Job-seekers fear Sarkozy's stand on immigration could hurt their prospects

— Photo: By Special Arrangement

LOYAL VOTER: An elderly French citizen being helped out of the French Consulate in Puducherry on Sunday after he cast his vote.

PUDUCHERRY: Days before conservative Nicolas Sarkozy was elected winner in the 2007 French presidential elections, French citizens spread across this Union Territory have been intensely debating and keenly watching the entire process.

As they cast votes on Sunday to choose between Mr. Sarkozy of the Union for a People Movement and Segolene Royal of the Socialist Party, there was palpable tension about the outcome.

"It's going to be tough for all of us if Sarkozy wins the election. His policy to cut immigration will have a bearing on people like me. There are hundreds of young French citizens ready to fly," says Pandurangan Saravanan, who has been drawing 400 Euro a month as unemployment benefit for the last two years. He is getting ready to fly to Paris in search of a job.

Intense campaign

It was this fear that the Socialist Party tried to exploit during the intense campaign among the 5,253 registered voters here. It won dividends for Ms. Royal as the traditionally rightist French citizens voted for her in the first round held on April 22.

Ms. Royal won 36.31 per cent of the 2,409 votes polled, Mr. Sarkozy managed 34.46 per cent and the centrist leader, Francois Bayrou, got 12.05 per cent. Socialist Party leaders hope the performance would be repeated in the second round too.

"The trend also shows a generational change among the French citizens. Sarkozy might win but we are expressing our anguish," says Nara Rajavelou, secretary of the Socialist Party, which opened its office here two years ago.

Mr. Rajavelou believes Mr. Sarkozy's win could create hurdles in the clearance of about 2,000 applications pending for citizenship, marriage certificates (when a French national marries an Indian citizen, the Consulate has to issue a certificate) and enrolment in the family book with the French Consulate.

In spite of the interest in the election, the voting percentage was less — only 45.85 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the first round. For the second round too, polling was slow till in the afternoon.

Supporters of Ms. Royal, who were present in large numbers at the Consulate here, one of the four polling booths in the Union Territory, objected to posters that declared Mr. Sarkozy the winner. They even tore up some of the posters.

The local Tamils who opted for French nationality in 1954 enjoy all the rights extended to French citizens. They do not need a visa to visit France, are entitled to a career in the French military, get a minimum monthly pension of Rs. 10,000 and elect their representative to the French Parliament.

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