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REUTERS - President Nicolas Sarkozy leads his Socialist challenger Francois Hollande for the first time in an opinion poll on Tuesday for round one of France's presidential election, but is still shown losing in the second round. The Ifop/Fiducial poll put support for Sarkozy at 28.5 percent in the first round on April 22, up from 27 percent at the end of February.

Thank God.

His plan is to lay a crafty trap, according to political analyst Stéphane Rozès. Struggling to catch frontrunner François Hollande, Sarkozy is seeking to "dramatise" the election. "He is saying in substance: 'In May, it will be more or chaos,'" Rozès tells Europe1.

Re-branding Sarkozy's image?

A re-branding definitely reader I think. I've read a lot of critics about the "Bling Bling" life of Sarkozy.

Socialist voters face a nervous wait for the results of today's presidential election runoff between Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande after final opinion polls following Wednesday's fiery television debate revealed a late surge in favour of the outgoing president, who has trailed his leftwing rival throughout the race.The polls indicated that Hollande was still on track to win the second round runoff vote, but revealed that the gap between the presidential rivals had narrowed from 10 percentage points a week ago to between four and six.

Sarkozy launched into the final phase last week with his "Letter to the French People," a 16-page "vision of France and its future." This personal format, borrowed from his Socialist Party predecessor Francois Mitterrand, who called on the French to re-elect him in 1988 in "A Letter to All French People," reads largely like a right-wing manifesto, and portrays a country stricken with dangers, threatened by uncertainties and by the -- unnamed -- Islamic fundamentalism, referred to as an "extremist ideology whose goal is to destroy our Western values."

This comment above was taken from der Spiegel, published on the 10th.

It's really close.

First time in French history that the incumbent president loses in the first round! Big blow to Sarkozy! Plus it shows how a lot of people are not voting for Hollande, but rather against Sarkozy..

18%... 18% - Sorry, still not over it! -

Flanby = Hollande Tomato = Melenchon Budapest = Sarkozy

Le Pen is going to cast a white ballot! Maybe now you could like her :P "I will not grant my trust, or a mandate, to these two candidates, On Sunday, I will cast a blank ballot"

According to what I've heard, this was always the case with the Front National. Same happened when Jean Marie Le Pen was at the head of the party. They never endorse anyone

Since were discussing polls and french elections

All you need to know about the 2012 French Presidential Elections

"French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) polls show that the French see Sarkozy as more presidential than Hollande by a wide margin, but that Hollande is seen by a wide margin as more understanding of the French and sympathetic." ---> Thanks to this course I could now analyze why these results take place :P

French Election Polls News from CNN

Le Pen poured scorn on both main candidates, saying that her supporters had voted for her ideas and not out of protest or distress at the crisis. She made clear her next objective was to win seats in parliament in June and lead "the real opposition".

François Hollande, the leftwing French presidential frontrunner, is to stage a high-profile campaign visit to London aimed at boosting his international profile and explaining his drive to rein in the excesses of world finance. The former Socialist party leader, who has never served in government, is engaged in an increasingly bruising election fight with Nicolas Sarkozy before the first-round vote in April.

Sarkozy "called Saturday for labels on all meat describing how the animals were slaughtered. A recent poll said halal meat was the No. 1 worry of the French people, he told reporters while explaining his shift."

The French election seems almost as absurd as the U.S. one!

Oh yes it is! The Frenchy style is exquisite *says with a Frenchy accent* ;-) Glad someone else than Jad & me is finally into it!