Chirac Cedes Spotlight to Sarkozy, Says He Will Not Seek Third Term
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PARIS — President Chirac, admired and scorned during 12 years as the leader of France, leaves a legacy as mixed and ambiguous as the man himself.
As widely expected, the French leader announced yesterday that he will not seek a third term in presidential elections in six weeks. In a televised address, Mr. Chirac said he would find new ways to serve his country after leaving office: “Serving France, and serving peace, is what I have committed my whole life to.”
Though he did not say as much, the announcement was an implicit acknowledgment that low popularity, age — he is 74 — and Nicolas Sarkozy, his conservative colleague-cum-rival as hugely ambitious as Mr. Chirac once was, have finally overtaken him.
Most voters on the French right, which Mr. Chirac once dominated, and those in the party founded for his re-election in 2002 have swung behind Mr. Sarkozy before the April-May two-round presidential vote, leaving Mr. Chirac with no political base for another run.
But Mr. Chirac has pulled surprises in the past and he kept France guessing as long as possible about whether he will run again — seemingly to avoid becoming a lame duck too soon.
On France, Mr. Chirac made less of a mark than General Charles de Gaulle, his role model, or his immediate predecessor, Francois Mitterrand, a socialist.
Internationally, the repercussions of Mr. Chirac’s defiant “Non!” to the war on Iraq, which forced President Bush to invade in 2003 without United Nations backing, still echo.
So, too, does another “Non!” of the Mr. Chirac era — that of French voters who rejected Europe’s drive toward greater integration in 2005.
Some accused the French leader of derailing European ambitions, since it was he who put the issue to a referendum. For many, it is among the biggest blemishes on the record of a statesman who occasionally seemed to be more concerned about problems abroad than at home.
Mr. Chirac’s acknowledgment of the French state’s guilt in the Nazi extermination of Jews in World War II was historic. But economically, few French say they are better off than they were in 1995, when crowds splashed in Paris fountains to celebrate Mr. Chirac’s come-from-behind election win.
