Text 28554, 96 rader
Skriven 2007-05-03 19:49:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: France
==============
There may yet be hope for France.  Wait till their economy picks up and 
they stop dragging down all of Western Europe.  

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http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-
05-03T182936Z_01_L03210157_RTRUKOC_0_US-FRANCE-
ELECTION.xml&src=rss&rpc=22


Sarkozy stays ahead after TV presidential debate
Thu May 3, 2007 2:32pm ET

By James Mackenzie

PARIS (Reuters) - French conservative Nicolas Sarkozy extended his lead 
after a television debate with Socialist rival Segolene Royal and stayed 
on course for victory in Sunday's election, opinion polls showed on 
Thursday.

A poll for the Opinionway institute showed 53 percent of viewers found 
Sarkozy more convincing during the sometimes fiery debate, against 31 
percent who judged Royal better.

A separate survey by the same polling organization gave Sarkozy, who has 
come out on top in over 100 opinion polls since the start of the year, 
an eight point lead with 54 percent support, versus 46 percent for 
Royal. 

But with just over two days left until voting begins on Sunday morning, 
neither candidate relented. Both were back on the campaign trail on 
Thursday evening, with Sarkozy hammering his favorite themes of security 
and pride in being French.

"I want to be able to talk about the nation without being called a 
nationalist," he told a rally in the southern city of Montpellier. "I 
want to be able to talk about authority without being called an 
authoritarian."

Media commentators generally judged Wednesday night's debate a draw 
after a combative Royal came out fighting from the start, landing 
several blows but failing to dent Sarkozy's aura of competence and 
sometimes appearing bad tempered herself.

With recent surveys showing as many as 88 percent of voters have made up 
their minds before the deciding ballot on Sunday, commentators generally 
believed the debate would only confirm opinions that people already 
held. 

And after failing to turn around Sarkozy's lead in the debate watched by 
more than 20 million people -- over half the French electorate -- Royal 
has a mountain to climb.

"To get back to his level, Segolene Royal would have had to achieve the 
impossible," conservative daily Le Figaro said.

"But we're a long way from that."

IMPOSSIBLE 


Royal received implicit backing from centrist Francois Bayrou, who won 
nearly 7 million votes in the first round of the election. He was quoted 
in the daily Le Monde as saying he would not vote for Sarkozy.

The left-leaning newspaper also gave her a cautious endorsement itself, 
criticizing Sarkozy's "vengeful" conception of history and saying she 
would be able to renew the left in France if she won.

But many ordinary voters believed she had not done enough to shed an 
image of fuzzy inconsistency that has clung to her throughout the 
campaign after a series of gaffes that have been highlighted strongly in 
the media.

"Royal was much too vague. Sarkozy pressed her well on it and I felt he 
dominated at the finish," said Mathieu Cariteau, a 21 year-old student 
in Paris. 

Sarkozy, a right-wing former interior minister and the favorite of 
financial markets, has hammered young hoodlums, illegal immigrants and 
enthused supporters with his attacks on the left wing protesters of May 
1968.

Hated and feared as a dangerous authoritarian by many on the left, he 
has nonetheless been consistently rated the more "presidential" of the 
two candidates by most voters.

But Royal was not giving up.

"We have two days left, don't break up my campaign team. Keep convincing 
people around you, because you are my campaign team," Royal told 
supporters in the northern city of Lille.


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