Chirac appeal to voters ahead of poll

PARIS, France -- French President Jacques Chirac has appealed to the public to cast their vote in upcoming legislative elections, amid concerns the far-right could win strong support.

"The object of democracy is not division and paralysis," Chirac told France-3 television. "We cannot indefinitely treat politics with derision."

The first round of the two-stage election process begins on Sunday, followed by the second round on June 16.

National Front candidates are set for a strong performance in the elections.

Chirac won a landslide re-election victory on May 5 in which the left backed him to block extreme-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen.

But a record abstention rate -- 28 percent -- in the first round of the presidential vote was among the factors that helped Le Pen move to the final round in the presidential vote.

Le Pen's shock performance has led to fears that far-right candidates could make the second round in up to 150 of the nation's 577 constituencies.

Candidates who score more than 12.5 percent in the first round go forward to a second-round constituency runoff if no one reaches 50 percent.

Chirac has said he will exclude any politician that worked with the National Front from his Union for a Presidential Majority movement and from the broader majority he hopes the centre-right will win.

"I hope such a case does not happen," Chirac said on France 3 television.

"I would be very disappointed if it did, and they (conservative candidates making deals with the National Front) would be excluded, not just from the UMP but from the whole presidential majority."

In his television interview, Chirac also said he was putting together a commission to review the issue of presidential immunity -- a campaign promise.

Chirac was handicapped during the presidential race by allegations linking his to party financing kickback schemes while he served as Paris mayor, from 1977-95.

Last year, Chirac refused to respond to a summons by a judge investigating one of several cases.

He said the commission to examine the penal statute of the president might be in place before the Sunday vote.

The commission would consider decisions made by the Constitutional Council and the Court of Cassation -- both of which backed Chirac's claim to presidential immunity -- as well as how other democracies deal with the issue, he said.