Editing Two-round system (section)

=== 2002 French presidential election ===
In the [[2002 French presidential election]], the two contenders described by the media as possible winners were [[Jacques Chirac]] and [[Lionel Jospin]], who represented the largest two political parties in France at the time. However, 16 candidates were on the ballot, including [[Jean-Pierre Chevènement#2002 presidential election|Jean-Pierre Chevènement]] (5.33%) and [[Christiane Taubira]] (2.32%) from the [[Plural Left]] coalition of Jospin, who refused by excess of confidence{{Clarify|date=July 2024}} to dissuade them.{{Cn|date=July 2024}}

With the left vote divided among a number of candidates, a third contender, [[Jean-Marie Le Pen]], unexpectedly obtained slightly more than Jospin in the first round:

* Jacques Chirac (Centre-right, Gaullist): 19.88%
* Jean-Marie Le Pen (Far-right, National Front): 16.86%
* Lionel Jospin (Centre-left, Socialist): 16.18%

The other candidates received smaller percentages on the first round.

Because no candidate had obtained an absolute majority of the votes in the first round, the top two candidates went into the second round. Most supporters of the parties which did not get through to the second round (and Chirac's supporters) voted for Chirac, who won with a very large majority:

* Jacques Chirac (Center-right, Gaullist): 82.21%
* Jean-Marie Le Pen (Far-right, National Front): 17.79%
Despite the controversy over Jospin's early elimination, polls showed Chirac was preferred to Jospin by a majority of voters and that Chirac was the [[Condorcet winner criterion|majority-preferred candidate]], meaning the election was not [[Spoiler effect|spoiled]].