France dealt a heavy blow to far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen Sunday in a presidential election runoff that returned conservative Jacques Chirac to power by a landslide after two weeks of street protests.

Exit polls showed Chirac scored about 82 percent against around 18 percent for Le Pen, an anti-immigrant populist whose shock success in a first round of voting two weeks ago sparked massive protests and rallied mainstream parties from across the political spectrum behind Chirac.

A strong turnout of about 80 percent helped dampen the score for Le Pen, whose campaign failed to gain much momentum after the surprise 16.9 percent that put him second on April 21 to edge Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin out of the contest.

The poor showing for Le Pen, 73, a blustery ex-paratrooper who once called the Holocaust a "detail of history," also meant his anti-immigrant National Front might not pose as much of a threat at parliamentary elections in June as initially thought.
Despite recurring sleaze accusations and an unimpressive record after five years of sharing power with Jospin, Chirac, 69, won support even from his left-wing foes once the runoff vote effectively turned into a referendum against the far-right.

PHOTO CAPTION

French President Jacques Chirac casts his ballot in the second round of the presidential elections in Sarran, central France, Sunday, May 5, 2002. Chirac is expected to easily defeat far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen in Sunday's presidential runoff. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours)