Le Pen triumph triggers whodunnit hunt

Le Pen supporters are conspicuous in some regions

By BBC News Online's Sheila Barter in Drancy

For a political party whose candidate has made it to the second round of the presidential election, supporters of the National Front are pretty hard to find - in Paris at least.

I am totally against fascism, but I think he is right about repatriation

Paris voter

By contrast, the confident, smiling face of Mr Le Pen is everywhere. He is thirsting for the chance to take on Mr Chirac in a televised debate.

"I can be elected," he told RTL radio.

"I am counting on the French people. I am the candidate of the people against the candidate of the system.

Le Pen is loud, his supporters quiet

"I am counting on the millions of French people who think that things are not going well."

I did run across one sympathiser in central Paris.

"I am totally against fascism," he told me, "but I think he is right about repatriation.

"People feel afraid to go out - they will attack you even in broad daylight, steal your bag, jump into your car.

Click here for a map of the election results by region

"So much of the crime is committed by black people, Arabs, and now people from Eastern Europe. They should all be expelled - even those born here."

In search of the men and women who brought Mr Le Pen his first-round triumph - with a total of 4.8 million votes - I headed for Drancy, just north-east of the city.

'Old white people'

It is traditionally a communist fortress, but this time Le Pen took 21%, with Bruno Megret, who is even more right wing, getting 3%.

You won't find anyone who will admit to it - people are keeping it close to their chest

Middle-aged couple

Drancy is also a place of particular significance in French history as it was from here that 100,000 Jews were sent to Nazi concentration camps.

A memorial in the town says: "Please don't forget the victims."

But as an Algerian man in a cafe opposite the memorial says: "I think perhaps they have forgotten."

While more than one in five people here voted for the far right, no-one is admitting to it.

Drancy memorial: Collaborators helped the Nazis deport Jews

"You are looking for old white people," said a young man sitting on the steps of the town hall.

But when I approach people answering this description, they tell me they are not interested in politics.

"So you didn't vote?" I ask.

"Yes, of course I voted," they call back over their shoulders.

A middle-aged couple walking arm in arm told me I was wasting my time.

"You won't find anyone who will admit to it," they said. "People are keeping it close to their chest."

Whodunnit?

The hunt for Le Pen voters has turned into something of a political whodunnit - and the best information has come from exit polls.

His support is spread across age groups and social classes - unlike many of the other parties, which have a concentration at one end of the social or age bracket.

His support is much higher among men, and among the unemployed - 38% of whom said they had voted for Le Pen, according to an exit poll by Ipsos.

Perhaps most surprising is the fact that Le Pen's supporters came from across the whole spectrum of political opinion - most of them turning to him as the strongest anti-crime figure.

Many Le Pen voters were also supporters of other right- and centre-right parties, but the scale of the protest vote sent communists, socialists and hard-left voters his way too.

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