JERUSALEM (EJP)--- The number of French people in Israel who participated in Sunday’s first round of the country’s Presidential election was even higher than expected, mirroring the high turnout in France.
According to local figures, around 19 percent of the 43,000 eligible French voters living in Israel registered to vote and cast a ballot in Haifa, Jerusalem, Netanya or Tel Aviv. In France the percentage was believed to be as high as 85 percent.
As expected, the right wing UMP candidate Nicolas Sarkozy won a landslide victory amongst the Israeli-French community, taking a massive 82 percent of the vote, while Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal won only nine percent.
The result far different to that in France where Sarkozy won around 31 percent and Royal around 25.8 percent. However it will be those two who will continue to the second round runoff vote in two weeks time, on May 6.
No turning back
As the UMP representatives in Israel celebrated their success, the Socialist Party supporters appeared to be admitting defeat even before the second round of campaigning has begun.
Issie Poznanzki, a representative of the Socialist Party living in Israel said he believed there would be little difference in the policies of Royal and Sarkozy but admitted that it was difficult to battle against the image of Sarkozy as the best candidate for Israel.
"The people in Israel are not looking for what is best for France but for what is best for Israel," Poznanzki told EJP, "and they believe Sarkozy is the best man for Israel."
"It would be very difficult to change anything now," he added, "I tried to campaign on television and in the newspapers but was not succesful."
Poznansky said the perception of Sarkozy is simply that. "All the candidates are for Israel and for peace but the problem is that the politics of France will not change. It doesnt matter who will be the president.
"France will always protect the right of Israelis to live here in peace but will also take into account the rights of the Palestinians."
Notably, National Front candidate Jean Marie Le Pen managed to win around one percent of the votes in Israel, despite his anti-Semitic image and anti-Israel comments.
Commentators said it was likely Israelis would vote for Le Pen as he was seen as the only candidate who was truly prepared to fight against the Muslims in Israel, seen as a threat to the Jewish community.
But most Jewish community members were glad that Le Pen was defeated, after making made it to the runoff last time around in 2002 before losing out to Jacques Chirac.
New wave
Sylvain Semoun, a representative of Sarkozy abroad, said the reason for the high turnout was, like in France, due to the new wave of politics in France.
"The people are being presented with a change," Semoun told The Jerusalem Post. "The old politicians - Chirac, Jospin and Le Pen - are out, and they have new young politicians in front of them. The people are very motivated and they were encouraged to vote."
One of the many voters who chose Sarkozy was Paule Timsit. He told The Jerusalem Post: "I’ve just come in from Tiberias so I can vote for Sarkozy. Why am I voting for Sarkozy? I always vote for the Right - the good Right. I was just in France for five months, and from what I saw there, a socialist France [under Ségolène Royal] would not interest me."
