Sarkozy issues late plea for support

FRENCH PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy issued a final appeal for support last night as France prepared for the first round of a presidential election that opinion polls say could see the left take the Élysée Palace for the first time in 25 years.

Mr Sarkozy and François Hollande of the Socialist Party are expected to lead the pack of 10 candidates after tomorrow’s first round, but polls point to a victory for Mr Hollande in the run-off on May 6th.

On the final day of campaigning yesterday, the two frontrunners visited stronghold regions of the far-right National Front to appeal for late support that could provide vital momentum for the run-off.

At a rally in Nice on the Côte d’Azur, Mr Sarkozy called for right-wing voters to unite around his candidacy. “I’m fighting for you, not for me. For our country, we must win,” he said.

Mr Hollande, visiting the industrial northeast, addressed those who “put their faith in Nicolas Sarkozy” five years ago but could now “see the scale of the disappointment”.

“There is an anger which must not fan a shift to the extreme right,” he said in the town of Vitry-le-François.

A series of polls published yesterday showed Mr Sarkozy’s support eroding slightly while Mr Hollande’s backing held firm. According to an Ipsos survey, the socialist was leading on 29 per cent to Mr Sarkozy’s 25.5 per cent.

A 10-point gap separated the leading pair from Marine Le Pen of the National Front, in third place on 16 per cent. Left-wing radical Jean-Luc Mélenchon was on 14 per cent and the centrist François Bayrou on 10 per cent, Ipsos said.

Some surveys have shown the frontrunners neck-and-neck in the first round, but all give Mr Hollande a victory of between seven and 14 percentage points in a run-off against the incumbent.

Amid signs of confidence in the Hollande camp and growing despondence on the right, the pro-government Le Figaro noted that the main opposition party was “having difficulty concealing its optimism”. Insisting the outcome was still to play for, Mr Sarkozy’s campaign spokeswoman, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, said “erratic” poll findings showed the electorate remained volatile. “I think there will be big surprises,” she said, thanks to “the silent French, who don’t express themselves in the media or on the internet”.

The two rivals clashed yesterday over the euro crisis, with Mr Sarkozy saying his role in helping steer the euro zone through it made him the safest choices for voters. “The risk of the euro imploding doesn’t exist anymore,” Mr Sarkozy said.

“Europe is convalescent. That’s a reality. We can’t afford any mistakes. The minute we ease up on cutting spending, reducing the deficit, reducing the debt, France will share the fate of Spain.”

Spain’s huge economy is weighed down by debt and has seen its cost of borrowing rise sharply in recent weeks.

Mr Hollande countered that France’s budget problems were the result of five years of Mr Sarkozy’s policies and called for action to revive growth.

He called for the European Central Bank to take a radically different role by lending directly to troubled euro zone states rather than to banks, and by keeping interest rates low, although he acknowledged that Germany opposed expanding the bank’s role.

If there is to be an upset tomorrow, it is likely to come from Ms Le Pen or Mr Mélenchon, who are competing for third place but have seen their support rise in recent weeks.

Mr Mélenchon has been the revelation of the campaign, his fiery rhetoric and calls for “civic insurrection” drawing huge crowds and lifting him from 7 to 14 per cent in the polls. At his final rally, in Paris on Thursday night, the former Trotskyite and Socialist Party member vowed to break up the “Merkozy” duo which he said was responsible for imposing austerity on the people of Europe.

Mr Mélenchon said his priority was to get Mr Sarkozy out of power and then pull a Hollande government to the left. “I appeal to you, left-wing comrades who are listening and hesitating, come and help us not just overtake the extreme right but raise the demands of the left,” he said.

Some 80 per cent of Mélenchon voters tell pollsters they plan to vote for Mr Hollande in the run-off, while supporters of Ms Le Pen and Mr Bayrou are more evenly split.

Projected results of the first round will be available tomorrow evening.