FRANCE: Official opening of French presidential campaign allows candidates to put up their election posters

Record ID: 345236

  • Title: FRANCE: Official opening of French presidential campaign allows candidates to put up their election posters
  • Date: 10th April 2007
  • Summary: POSTER FOR FAR-RIGHT CANDIDATE JEAN-MARIE LE PEN VARIOUS CANDIDATES' POSTERS
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEPSWH6T3GKGTJ5WKNS9GH6U16
  • Story Text: Monday (April 9th) marked the official start of the French presidential election campaign, when the presidential candidates were finally able to unveil their adverts and posters.
    The posters of the favourite, conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, showed him dressed in a suit and tie in front of his campaign slogan "Together, everything is possible".
    A CSA poll on Monday for Le Parisien newspaper said 59 percent of voters expected Sarkozy to be the next president compared with 18 percent for Socialist Segolene Royal.
    The first round of voting is due to take place on April 22, with a second ballot on May 6 between the two front runners if, as expected, no candidate receives more than 50 percent in the first round.
    Royal's campaign posters featured a close up photograph of her under the headline "change" and her slogan "France rules", which uses a play on words to indicate a female ruler.
    She is in second place in opinion polls and her rating has slipped as the popularity of centrist Francois Bayrou has risen, and as Sarkozy has been favoured by the return of the debate on immigration and security to the top of the agenda.
    Nearly half of the electorate is still undecided just two weeks before voting starts. The CSA poll said 42 percent were unsure how to vote and would decide at the last minute.
    The figure is slightly higher than before previous presidential ballots and highlights the unpredictability of this election.
    Sensing the election is wide open, the third and fourth placed candidates have stepped up attacks on the poll leaders.
    Bayrou, in third place, has tried to take advantage of Royal's weaknesses by talking about social issues and he has tried to win right-wing votes by criticising Sarkozy.
    The former education minister has portrayed himself as an alternative to the leading pair and has climbed steadily in the polls since the beginning of the year. He says he will be in the second round and polls show he would defeat Sarkozy if they are both in the May 6 runoff.
    Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who shocked France by finishing second in the 2002 election, says he will also be in the second round and has even reserved a convention centre for that evening.
    The 78-year-old is in fourth place but polls show his support has risen in the past week, boosted by clashes at a main Paris railway station last month following the arrest of an immigrant for travelling on the Metro transport system without a ticket. His poster says simply: "Vote for Le Pen".
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