DATE=05/05/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=FRENCH ELECTION (L O)

NUMBER=2-289445

BYLINE=PAUL MILLER

DATELINE=PARIS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

///EDS: WILL BE UPDATED AFTER POLLS CLOSE AT 1800 UTC.///

INTRO: French voters are apparently turning out in high numbers as they vote for president. Analysts expect incumbent President Jacques Chirac to defeat far-right candidate Jean-Marie LePen. Mr. LePen beat socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin two weeks ago in an election marked by low turnout. Paul Miller reports from Paris, what counts in today's election is the size of the Chirac win.

TEXT: According to official figures, voter turnout is as much as 10 percent higher than two weeks ago, indicting that French voters have taken notice of appeals to repudiate Jean-Marie LePen's far-right policies.

For many supporters of the left this is a difficult election. They

regard President Chirac, a right-of-center Gaullist, as an unscrupulous

political opportunist. While thousands of them have marched in

the streets to denounce Mr. LePen, they have been reluctant to vote for

Mr. Chirac. Some have appeared at polling stations wearing clothespins

on their noses and rubber gloves to show their disdain.

Election officials have discouraged this kind of protest, although in

one leftist-controlled town the mayor set up a decontamination booth so

people could cleanse themselves after voting for the incumbent president.

The polls indicate Mr. Chirac could win as much as 80 percent of the vote. But that would still give Mr. LePen his best showing ever in a national

election. Such a result would do little to erase what many people here

regard as the shame of having one voter in five support an extremist

who, among other things, wants to keep immigrants out of France. Mr.

LePen also wants to take France out of the European Union. (signed)

NEB/PM/DW/RH