Head to head: French election

Following Jean-Marie Le Pen's shock success in the first round of the French presidential elections, two Parisians with opposing views told BBC News Online's Sheila Barter what they think of the far-right leader:

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Marriette

I am going to vote Le Pen in the second round because France needs an electric shock.

It is not because I don't like foreigners, but I am fed up with the situation in the suburbs - that's a simple fact.

Every time there is a crime, it is committed by a person of North African origin.

I have to travel back to the suburbs by train after work, and I am fed up with being afraid.

If I was in their place I would try to work harder at school, to do better. They should not just turn to crime, even if poverty and unemployment are a problem.

The best thing is for them to go back. Even the immigrants are not happy in the suburbs. They should sort things out in their own countries so they wouldn't need to come here.

I absolutely will not vote for Chirac - he's a crook, and I have seen what he has done for the past seven years.

And not to vote at all would be wrong - you have to say something.

So we have the choice between someone who has done nothing, and someone who maybe can do something.

I don't like Le Pen's other policies - his foreign policy would be terrible. I am afraid of what he could do, but I will take the risk.

It is more important to tackle the problem of immigration. I don't think he is a perfect person, but a solution has to be found, and he is the best man to do it.

My grandfather was in the resistance, and my mother used to carry secret messages for him in her satchel. But he would be proud of the way I am voting. Other people in my family already vote Le Pen.

We cannot accept the whole world coming here. You can give bread to someone if you have enough yourself, but if you don't have any left you can't give it.

I am not ashamed to admit how I am planning to vote. I am not a xenophobe. I am absolutely not motivated by hatred. But I think you have the right to think that immigration must be controlled.

I am fed up with being politically correct.

I voted for (far-left candidate) Arlette Laguiller in the first round, and would have voted for Jospin in the second.

But I instinctively feel it's right to vote Le Pen. It's an issue of conscience.

I don't think he is a fascist. For me that's something from the history books.

I like him because he is honest enough to say what a lot of people secretly think. He is the only one who dares say it.

Something has to be done.

My mind is made up. I will vote Le Pen.

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Ibtissem, student

I am against all forms of extremism - in religion or politics.

That's why I am demonstrating on the streets.

I thought it was possible that Le Pen would reach the second round, because the opinion polls have been wrong before, and because the campaign had focused so much on crime and not interested people in any other way.

And there were too many candidates on the left, splitting the vote for the left.

But I was still shocked when it happened, and Le Pen won.

I am ashamed of the result. I am angry, scared, terrified.

France had been looking at Denmark, Austria, Italy, where the far-right had done well, but now the same has happened here.

My parents came to France from a country where there were no human rights - Tunisia. They came here because this is a democracy. I was born here.

But now, 25 years later, we have Le Pen in the second round.

This is not a democracy, not with him.

I think people have forgotten the past, forgotten World War II.

Le Pen is no different from Franco, from Hitler, from other dictators. His speeches are the same, his beliefs are the same. People can't see beyond the end of their noses. They see only what is happening in their street, not the wider picture, not the country as a whole.

When you see the news you see violence and crime in the suburbs and people are scared.

I don't think Le Pen will be president. The danger is already there - that he is in the second round.

It is a very bad direction for France - a red alert.

I hope the French people react. I think people will act to stop him by voting Chirac.

We need a democratic union of all other parties to unite against Le Pen.

I still won't vote in the second round. I have never voted - I am not even registered to vote.

There are things about the system that I don't like, and there are no politicians who correspond with my ideas, and they are all liars.

And some of the politicians have been around for 20, 30 years - so there is never any change.

In the parliamentary elections I think the socialists will do very well, so we will have another period of cohabitation.

That's not a problem - it balances the two. Like in the UK, where you have Tony Blair and the House of Lords to balance each other.

But I am frightened - it's a nightmare.

I want to live freely in a country where if you are white or black you can go about in security, find a job, live with your family, get on with your life.

We have to act.

What do you think of these arguments? Here are some of your comments.

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I support Marriette's view although I also understand Ibtissem. The years of leftist rule marked by the inability or unwillingness to handle crime paved the road to M. Le Pen's triumph.
Ilya Girin, USA

You should have more of these debates. Having lived in France I can understand both reactions. These opposing opinions were well selected.
Kim, DR Congo

People have the right to voice their opinions

Christine Hurst, UK

I agree with Mariette and would love to see a similar candidate over here. It isn't about being a xenophobe - I think people have the right to voice their opinions openly in a free and democratic country.
Christine Hurst, UK

I can see both sides of the argument. Whilst Le Pen appears to be no saint it can't be said that he is the fascist that people paint him to be. He believes in curtailment of immigration and looking at the country's ethnic diversity with a degree of rationality. Look at all the fuss generated this week over David Blunkett's so-called 'racist' comment.
Ian Leach, UK

The student you interviewed seems a typical example of the reason France now has this problem. He's demonstrating on the streets and finishes by saying "we have to act" yet he's never voted. He says he won't vote in the second round, even now he has the clearest example possible of what happens when the moderates stay away or squabble amongst themselves. How dare he criticise the rest of the French for not seeing beyond their noses!
Steve, Europe

They are an easy target

Sarah, UK

The history of the whole of Europe, including this country, is one of immigration - people constantly on the move. This only serves in the long run to enrich the culture of the country involved. Many people are too ready to assign all the ills of society on the latest immigrants because they are an easy target, the most visible assumed reason.
Sarah, UK

I am a New Zealand citizen married to a French woman and I presently live in Sweden. I have plans to move to France so that my son who is a French citizen can grow up in the society that coined the phrase liberte equalite and fraternity, now I am not so sure. The results of the first round of the French Presidential elections should be a wake up call for the principals of French democracy. The right to vote is a privilege that the French had long before most people in the world. It is a right that should always be exercised, a right that that millions of people throughout the world have given their lives to attain and defend. The first round result should also be a wake up call to the citizens of all civilized countries that they have to exercise their rights or lose them as extremists of all persuasions pervert the democratic process to achieve their own morally depraved ideologies
Alan Wynn, Sweden

I think that all governments in Western Europe should learn from the French polls and see that ordinary people are sick and tired of mass, unsustainable immigration, which is leading to a rise in crime. Also, people are, for the first time, calling for an end to the tyrannical forces of political correctness.

The problem is that he is not bringing the right answers

Nemo Peeters, USA

The problem in France is that there are indeed problems with unemployment and insecurity. The strength of Le Pen is that he raises these questions. The problem is that he is not bringing the right answers, only hatred, xenophobia, and stupid protectionism.
Nemo Peeters, USA

How can Ibtissem say, "I still won't vote in the second round. I have never voted - I am not even registered to vote" and then go out and demonstrate against the result? If everyone who took to the streets after the first round to demonstrate against Le Pen had voted in the first place, France wouldn't be in this mess. They only have themselves to blame. It is each person's responsibility to use their vote.
Paul J, UK

As someone who lives 50/50 in France and the UK I have to agree with Ibtissem. The fundamental problem in France is that people have forgotten the Second World War as it is expedient to do so due to France's ambivalent position in that conflict.
Kevin, UK/France