[Theobald]

France opts for left-right battle

Centre-right Nicolas Sarkozy will meet Socialist Segolene Royal in the run-off of France's presidential election on 6 May, according to initial results.


Mr Sarkozy, a former interior minister, came first with 30%, ahead of Ms Royal, who is bidding to be France's first woman president, on 24%.

Centrist Francois Bayrou got 18.2%, and far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen 11.5%.

Voting throughout the day reached record numbers, with turnout put at 84% - the highest for nearly 50 years.
On a bright spring day, disillusionment with politicians and their promises did not translate into apathy, reports the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris.


Instead, young and old alike queued at the polling booths at schools and town halls, although in their choices they remained as divided as ever.

Voters turned out in such high numbers that the authorities decided to allow more time for people who were still queueing.

Of the main candidates, Mr Sarkozy promised a "rupture" with the past and real economic reform, while Ms Royal has pledged a fairer society.

Both are controversial figures who have divided the French.
Mr Sarkozy is hated by the left as a reformer who many fear would change the French way of life by making the nation work harder and longer and by cutting back on its generous welfare state.


Ms Royal is also regarded with suspicion, seen as too authoritarian and conservative by some Socialists.

Addressing a cheering crowd at his election headquarters, Mr Sarkozy said France had chosen to have a real debate between two different types of politics.

"The debate should be a real debate of ideas," he said.

He went on to appeal to all voters, saying: "I invite all French people, whatever their origin, whatever their beliefs, whatever their party to unite with me."

The results were a victory for the Socialist Party and also a personal victory for Segolene Royal, one of her advisers, Jack Lang, said.

"The French people have discovered a cool-headed and serene personality who tomorrow can be a president who will hold the reins of the state. I am calling for a broad coalition against the representative of the outgoing government, " he said.

Centre ground

The centrist Francois Bayrou, who said he would bring together left and right in a government of national unity, failed to capitalise on early hopes.
But Mr Sarkozy and Ms Royal will be bidding to win over for the political centre that he energised well enough to turn the election briefly into a three-way race.


It was a disappointing result for 78-year-old Mr Le Pen, who had confidently predicted that he would win through to the second round as he did in 2002 also failed to materialise.

The far-right leader has, however, has seen many of his ideas on patriotism and immigration filter into the mainstream campaigns.
Whoever finally wins the presidency, says the BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus, it will mark a change of political generation and perhaps a shift in French international priorities, making this election matter even to those outside France.