French Residents Register to Vote

PARIS -- Residents of poor French neighborhoods where weeks of fiery riots broke out last year were dashing to town halls to register to vote before a Saturday deadline, driven by campaigns urging minority youths to use the electoral process _ not violence _ to vent their frustrations.

Registration has risen sharply among the largely Arab and black African residents in some of the squalid suburbs of Paris that were the epicenter of the fall 2005 riots.

In the Saint-Denis region north of Paris, electoral officer Christine Martin said there were 300 registrations on Thursday alone, just ahead of the Saturday deadline to vote in the spring's presidential election. She said 5,300 people have registered since the beginning of the year, compared to less than 4,000 in 2001 _ the year before the last presidential vote.

Some 50 people also registered every day in December in Clichy-Sous-Bois, said town official Didier Ostre. The suburb northeast of Paris is where the riots erupted on Oct. 27, 2005 after two youths were electrocuted in a power substation. About 1,000 people registered there shortly after the riots in response to a push by rock stars rappers and movie stars.

Surveys by The Associated Press and French newspapers have shown an upward trend in voter registration in suburbs across the country, as well.

Some areas have seen an increase of up to 30 percent over the registration numbers for the last presidential vote, the daily Le Figaro reported. In Trappes, south of Paris, officials say there has been a 45 percent increase in registration over 2001.

Rappers and a raft of local activist groups have spent months trying to get residents of suburban housing projects _ which lack a strong voting tradition _ to register for the April vote. One group has distributed T-shirts that read, "The Vote Is The Best Molotov Cocktail," referring to one of the weapons youths hurled at cars and buildings during the riots.

Hicham Kochman, a rapper better known as Axiom from the northern city of Lille, included a plea for minority youth to vote in his recently released album.

"My call to vote ... is a call for survival," Axiom said in a recent interview. His motivation? "My role is simple. I'm a citizen."

The three weeks of rioting last year jolted France into recognizing its failure to give equal opportunities to many minorities _ especially those of Arab and black African origin _ and the country's 5 million-strong Muslim population. Many minorities have long languished on the fringes of France's major cities, victims of discrimination and chronic unemployment.

Experts caution that their hopes might be punctured in the April presidential vote _ in which a top contender is conservative Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, reviled by many minorities for his harsh stance on delinquency and immigration.

Sarkozy has been hesitant to set foot in the suburbs, but he recently invited youths from housing projects to the Interior Ministry for a visit. He also supports a form of affirmative action opposed by many who say it contradicts France's egalitarian ideals.

The other leading presidential hopeful, Socialist candidate Segolene Royal, has visited several Paris suburbs. She has called for military supervision for young criminals and more government efforts to fight discrimination.

Vincent Tiberj of the Institute for Political Science said French citizens of Arab or black African descent comprise 4 percent of the electorate, meaning they would only make a difference in the presidential election if there was a very tight runoff.

However, minority voters could prove decisive in some districts in legislative elections that follow the presidential vote or in municipal voting in 2008, he said.

For many activists, the outcome is beside the point.

"We must vote to be able to say that we exist," said Amed Ly, a member of the group Yesterday for Tomorrow. "For politicians, the voting card is the only way to say it."

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Associated Press Writer Cecile Brisson contributed to this report.