French presidential fight begins

PARIS, France – The first day of campaigning for the French presidency is under way after Prime Minister Lionel Jospin officially entered the contest.

He and incumbent Jacque Chirac, who announced he would stand again last week, are virtually neck-and-neck in opinion polls on Thursday, a day after Jospin announced his candidacy.

Both candidates had been expected to stand for months but Jospin's official announcement on Wednesday moved the election battle into top gear.

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Chirac, 69, and Jospin, 64, at opposite ends of the political spectrum, have led France in a tense power-sharing coalition.

Jospin said in a statement a few hours after his announcement that he was running for president to "restore the spirit of responsibility, the foundation of authority."

The socialist candidate said: "We must have an active president, who gives strong direction and works with the government for its implementation," the Associated Press reported.

Chirac gave his first campaign speech on Monday, claming to be the law-and-order candidate with "zero tolerance" for crime.

In his statement, Jospin said his priorities were full employment, law and order, incomes and pensions reform, education and training and a drive to give Europe a stronger voice in the world.

Prime Minister Jospin lost to Chirac in the last presidential election in 1995 but led the Socialist Party to victory in parliamentary elections in 1997.

A further 17 presidential candidates have declared their intention to stand, including Jospin's former interior minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement, who is using a "strong state" Republican rhetoric.

The winner of the two-round presidential election on April 21 and May 5 will sit for only five years instead of seven following a referendum in 2000.