The centre candidate’s late surge is creating havoc for Sarko and Sego, writes colin randall |
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Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal have been forced to revise their campaign strategies in the French presidential elections after failing to halt the remarkable surge of the centrist Francois Bayrou.
A new poll in today's Figaro confirms the conservative Sarkozy as the likeliest winner in first-round voting on April 22.
But Royal's disjointed campaign and squabbles with her Socialist colleagues have allowed Bayrou to creep to within two points of her. If he can overtake her, large numbers of Socialist voters will switch to him in the second round on May 6 and the former Latin teacher from Pyrenean farming stock will be the next president, according to le Figaro.
Sarkozy's response to what the French press dubs 'Bayroumania' includes a high-risk gamble to boost his appeal to supporters |
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| Bayrou has made balancing the books his top priority if he wins |
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of the National Front, led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, by proposing the creation of a minister of immigration and national identity.
But he risks driving away moderates. Azouz Begag, the minister for equal opportunities and the son of Algerians, has already broken ranks, vowing to support Bayrou.
Meanwhile, Royal is pinning her hopes of a revival on defying the will of Socialist establishment figures, the so-called 'elephants'. She has repeated controversial plans to crack down on juvenile delinquents and, in the first 'big idea' of her new strategy, promises a referendum on a Sixth Republic to replace the 50-year-old Gaullist constitution.
Bayrou accuses both Sarkozy and Royal of presenting spendthrift programmes. He makes balancing France's books his top priority if he wins, and intends to offer the job of prime minister to a Socialist.
Alone among the main contenders, he has spoken of a need to improve Anglo-French relations after "years of quibbling". But his main appeal at home appears to be to voters weary of decades of left-right division. 
FIRST POSTED MARCH 19, 2007
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