- Title: FRANCE: French voters reflect ahead of second round of presidential election
- Date: 5th May 2007
- Summary: VARIOUS OF MARKET STALL HOLDERS SETTING UP AT THE ALIGRE MARKET
- Embargoed: 20th May 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- City:
- Country: France
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA6EHJ2FWGBPR4SAT4FNNZ96BX2
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- Story Text: French voters have just hours to decide how to vote in the presidential election, with polls showing conservative Nicolas Sarkozy enjoys a commanding lead over the Socialist PArty's Segolene Royal. France's 44.5 million voters were allowed a "day of reflection" on Saturday (May 5) after a presidential election campaign blackout came into force at midnight Friday, with polls giving governing UMP Party candidate Nicolas Sarkozy up to a 10 point lead over the Socialist Party's Segolene Royal.
The last polls of the campaign, one by BVA and one by IPSOS, both gave him 55 percent to Royal's 45. Many voters, however, appear to be still undecided. "Segolene has advantages in some areas, while Sarkozy has in other others. The final result will be close," said Mr. Limam, shopping at the Aligre market in central Paris. "I think that there are still lots of people who are undecided...There are lots of people in my position," said Emilie Petit, another market customer. Personality has been uppermost in many voters' minds and Sarkozy, in particular, has come under sustained attack from rivals who branded him as a dangerous authoritarian. A law-and-order hardliner and the most economically liberal of the candidates, Sarkozy won many admirers with his tough crackdown on riots across urban France in 2005,but his hyperactive character worries many voters. Agnes Sartor, another market customer said she would be voting for Segolene Royal. "At heart I subscribe more to socialist ideology," she said. "She (Segolene) has a more modern approach than the old PS (Socialist Party) we are used to seeing. Then my reasons are personal. I find Nicolas Sarkozy's ideas are too far to the right of the right." Electoral workers have been putting finishing touches to polling stations. In the main polling station in the 3rd arrondissement (district), electoral lists were sorted for delivery to other polling stations in the area and tables and voting booths were set up. Voter turnout in the first round was the highest on record for several decades and extra electoral workers have been brought in to run the polling stations. One worker, who declined to be named, compared participation with that for General de Gaulle's 1959 election and said that the current ease of voting by proxy boosted figures further. But with only hours to go before Sunday's vote, analysts said a fresh defeat for the Socialists, who have not held the presidency since Francois Mitterrand retired in 1995, could spark a crisis in the party which has not undergone the painful reforms of other European leftist parties. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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