Le Pen's success confirmed

PARIS, France -- French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen knocked political rival Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin out of the first round of the presidential election by less than 200,000 votes.

Final count results released on Tuesday by the Interior Ministry showed that Le Pen won a total of 4,805,307 votes compared to 4,610,749 for Jospin -- a difference of 194,658 votes.

Le Pen, who has been accused by his rivals as being a racist and anti-Semitic -- he campaigned on an anti-immigrant ticket and once called the Holocaust a detail of history -- took 16.86 percent of the vote compared to Jospin's 16.18.

The leader of the first round, President Jacques Chirac, took 5,666,440 votes, or 19.88 percent of the vote. Chirac and Le Pen will meet in a runoff on May 5.

VIDEO Le Pen's success has alarmed Europe's main parties and altered the French political landscape, reports CNN's Robin Oakley (April 22) Play video Protests broke out soon after election result announced. CNN's Hala Gorani reports (April 22) Play video Le Pen shocked many in France by defeating Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. CNN's Jim Bittermann reports (April 22) Play video   MORE STORIES • French migrants fear the future  • French poll result alarms Europe    EXTRA INFORMATION In-depth: France Decides 2002

With much of France still in shock over the result and more mass protests expected across the country, supporters of both Jospin and Chirac -- formerly arch political foes -- were planning to join forces in a bid to squeeze Le Pen out on May 5.

Chirac has called on the country to defend the democratic values of "tolerance and respect."

"I would like to remind all French men and French women to gather together to defend human rights, to guarantee the cohesion of the nation and to affirm the unity of the republic," Chirac said.

Chirac's camp was also seeking to set conditions on any TV debate with Le Pen for fear the far-rightist would use it to resurrect sleaze allegations dogging Chirac.

Le Pen has declared he is ready to face Chirac "any time, any place" before the runoff.

Michele Alliot-Marie of Chirac's conservative Rally for the Republic (RPR) party, told Reuters: "I have seen Le Pen in debates, I have seen the way he employs slander and insult more than ideas. That is the issue we must consider.

"If the debate takes place, we must find a way to guarantee the dignity and democratic nature of this head-to-head."

Le Pen's campaign director Bruno Gollnisch ridiculed the idea of a moderated debate in which the contenders would take it in turns to answer questions from journalists.

He told RMC radio: "What we want is a confrontation, a peaceable one but not just a juxtaposition of monologues, a so-called American-style debate.

"It's got to be possible for one to criticise the proposals of the other."

While Chirac -- as long as he remains in power -- is safe from any questioning on such matters, Le Pen has seized on sleaze as the incumbent's Achilles Heel.

"If he were a company chairman, he would leave his company's annual general meeting in handcuffs," Le Pen said on Monday, as more than 100,000 took to the streets in opposition to his poll success.

In Paris alone, an estimated 10,000 people gathered near the Bastille to denounce the National Front leader, who once described the Holocaust as a "footnote of history."

Le Pen has vowed to take France out of the European Union.

The 73-year-old far-right veteran told reporters: "I am not an enemy of Europe. I am a partisan of a Europe of nations, a Europe of homelands, but I am a determined adversary of a supranational, federal, federalising Europe.

"What I have not accepted in the Europe of Brussels is that it was said to be irreversible."

The French press on Tuesday were critical of the country's political system that allowed Le Pen to win through to the second round.

Said La Tribune: "What was it that Jacques Chirac and Lionel Jospin didn't understand during their five years of political cohabitation which allowed 20 percent of voters aged between 18 and 24 -- one elector in five in this France we see emerging -- to be seduced on Sunday by Jean-Marie Le Pen?"

Le Figaro talked of a "crisis of representation" with many French voters not feeling represented under the current system of government.

Liberation daily spoke of the collapse of the French political model and called for "the recasting of French democracy, within the heart of Europe."

The fall-out from Le Pen's success was felt across Europe with some nationalists in other countries buoyed by the result while others, including a forum of Jewish world leaders being held in Brussels, were horrified.

"It's most regrettable that the far right has become so strong," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told reporters, adding that democrats in France and throughout Europe should strive to ensure Le Pen did not gain any degree of power.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the elimination from the contest of French Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin was "very sad." He added: "We trust the French people to reject extremism of any kind."

Israel's most powerful religious party urged French Jews to emigrate to Israel to escape anti-Semitism in France.

Austria's far-right leader and former head of the Freedom Party, Joerg Haider, said Le Pen's success was a vote of no confidence in France's political leaders and showed attitudes towards immigration were shifting.

"Anyone who speaks out against excessive and uncontrolled immigration or the abuse of asylum laws in the context of centre-right politics is immediately branded an extremist," he said in an interview with state broadcaster ORF. "But as time goes on citizens are not putting up with this any more."

Meanwhile, the Socialist Party has begun the inquest into its shock defeat in preparation for the Parliament election in June.

"We must rally together in front of voters," Francois Hollande, head of the Socialist Party, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

"We have seen how heavy the price is when we are fragmented."

Party members also used the occasion to say good-bye to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who was humiliated after a dull campaign that failed to capitalise on his government's economic record.

Following the result, he announced he would quit politics and will step down as prime minister on May 6.