LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Jacques Chirac: President Jacques Chirac
built 127 days ago
Former French President Jacques Chirac was the butt of jokes, a suspected crook, and very popular with the French people. He was first elected President in 1997, then re-elected in 2002 with almost 82% of the vote. Chirac was the mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995, and Prime Minister of France from 1974-76 and again from 1986-88. He first ran for President in 1981, but lost soundly to a Socialist, François Mitterrand. Chirac ran again in 1988, and lost again, then ran a third time in 1995 and won. Opponents and supporters alike call Chirac "the Bulldozer".
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Will newly elected French President Jacques Chirac prove to be the new Charles De Gaulle? Observers predict Chirac, like De Gaulle, will follow a more pro-Arab foreign policy than that of his predecessor, Francois Mitterand. Others say the arrival of Chirac may reshuffle the Algerian deck just as De Gaulle's return from political exile in 1958 marked a turning point in the Algerian revolution and eventual independence for the country in 1962. Nearly everyone agrees that substantive changes—with serious repercussions for the Middle East—are in store for French policy.
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French President Jacques Chirac has made an aggressive move to support what internationalists have long demanded ? a global tax. Chirac told the French government to begin taxing airline tickets in 2006. Money raised from the levy would be earmarked to fight poverty in the developing world.
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Yesterday's news has left some wondering if perhaps French President Jacques Chirac has suffered a Migrainous stroke. Reuters News reported, "Chirac's office announced that the president was in hospital on Saturday, several hours after the 72-year old had been brought into the Parisian clinic after a "vascular accident" which affected his vision and was accompanied by a migraine."...
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That year, Jacques Chirac chose to run in the presidential elections and did rather well, winning 18 percent of the first ballot vote. At the second ballot, he only gave Giscard lukewarm support, which undoubtedly helped contribute to the president's defeat by President François Mitterrand. Chirac remained one of the leading opposition politicians. When the Socialist Party of President Mitterrand lost its majority in the National Assembly in the 1986 election, Chirac became prime minister again in a power-sharing agreement called cohabitation. It was the first time in the 28 years of the Fifth Republic that the French government was divided between a conservative parliament, led by Chirac, and a socialist president, Mitterrand. In 1988 Chirac ran for president a second time and was again defeated by Mitterrand.
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President Jacques Chirac yesterday denied any link to a corruption inquiry that wrongly targeted his rival and would—be successor, France's interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr Chirac has been dragged into the so—called Clearstream scandal, with his prime minister, Dominique de Villepin. Both issued statements indignantly rejecting suggestions they did anything to smear any individual. Mr de Villepin, who frequently clashes with Mr Sarkozy even though they hold the top two positions in government, denied asking for Mr Sarkozy to be investigated. But his claim has been challenged by the intelligence chief he ordered to carry out an inquiry into the scandal....Speculation has been mounting that his office may be raided as investigating judges try to unmask the author of poison pen communications identifying Mr Sarkozy and other prominent figures as holders of secret accounts at Clearstream, a Luxembourg—based bank. Mr de Villepin is alleged by Le Monde newspaper to have cited Mr Chirac's authority when ordering, as foreign minister, the French intelligence service inquiry.
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President Jacques Chirac