THREE days before parliamentary elections, secretaries are boxing up archives and shredding documents in the ministries that will change masters next week. The Elysee presidential palace has contacted the Socialist leader, Mr Lionel Jospin, to arrange a smooth transition if the left wing wins the second round of elections on Sunday.
But the ruling French centre-right thinks it may at last have found a winning ticket: Mr Philippe Seguin, the outgoing speaker of parliament, and Mr Alain Madetin, the former finance minister who was sacked by Mr Alain Juppe, the outgoing Prime Minister. They could be named prime minister and finance minister if the right wing recovers from its first-round defeat. They are the two most appealing personalities on the centre-right, and leaks about their role have been calculated to win back disillusioned voters.
Mr Seguin and Mr Madelin were chosen because they personify "responsibility" and "initiative" - the two qualities President Chirac promised to bring to government if his centre-right coalition survives Sunday's poll. Mr Seguin is known as a left-wing Gaullist concerned by social policy, Mr Madelin as a champion of liberal economics.
Born in Tunisia in 1943, Mr Seguin has a Mediterranean joie de vivre that contrasts with Mr Juppe's killjoy, ascetic style; Mr Juppe recently referred to him as a jovial fat man who doesn't do his homework." Mr Seguin was an outspoken opponent of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, an advantage at a time when voters are rejecting sacrifice for the sake of European integration.
Mr Seguin's European policy is virtually identical to that of Mr Jospin, his Socialist rival for the prime minister's office, so much so that Le Monde yesterday published a cartoon showing President Chirac chatting to Mr Seguin but referring to him as "mon cher Lionel". Both men promise that despite their reservations they will not question France's participation in monetary union. But both say employment must be the focus of European policy.
Mr Madelin is only three years younger than Mr Seguin, but he has the air of an American business school graduate, eager to tear down dirigiste (rigid) government structures. He is the favourite candidate of the financial community, and his appointment would reassure them about Mr Seguin's left-wing leanings and spending proclivities.
Mr Seguin and Mr Madelin were architects of President Chirac's winning campaign in 1995, but both were cruelly shoved aside soon after victory. Many voters have turned away from the centre-right because Mr Chirac abandoned promises - based on Mr Seguin's vision - to heal France's fracture sociale.
At the eleventh hour, the right is now trying to turn the clock back, asking voters to give it another chance to do what it originally promised. Both men feel personally vindicated by the right's desperate need of them: "There is an old law in politics," Mr Seguin told a joint rally with Mr Madelin on Wednesday night. "Governments can stay in power only by the principles that led to their birth."
Mr Francois Leotard, a leader in the centre-right coalition, called the combination "a little bit of liberal lark and a big chunk of socialist horse" that would not function.
The left-wing leader, Mr Jospin, called the emergence of the centre-right team a "baroque coupling" and a farce. "This improbable duo adds to the theatrical confusion, he said.
In interviews with the Breton newspaper Ouest France and Le Monde, Mr Jospin said that his left-wing government would be compact and that there would be "a substantial place for women
He has promised to conduct an audit of public finances left by Mr Juppe, and would organise a conference on employment, working hours and salaries before the end of June. It looks like the old French left-wing answer to every problem - create a committee and hold a meeting.
