Sarkozy on rise as official campaign starts

The first round of the French presidential election entered its final phase yesterday, as attacks turned personal and record numbers of voters remained undecided.

As official campaigning began, a poll showed 42% of voters could still change their mind before the election on April 22, which will select two candidates to go head to head in a final vote on May 6.

After 12 years of Jacques Chirac, there is more interest than ever in this election, as a new generation of French politicians promises to confront high unemployment, public debt and a stagnant economy while reassuring the nation about France's place in a globalised world.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the rightwing former interior minister, who has promised to reform the labour market, has reinforced his conservative credentials in recent weeks. He has forced a debate on what it means to be French by suggesting a ministry for "immigration and national identity" and his tough-on-crime stance has seen him benefit from clashes between youths and police at the Gare du Nord in Paris. His opinion poll ratings have risen to 26-31%. Yesterday a poll for Le Parisien showed 59% of French people believed he would be France's next president. Only 18% believed his Socialist rival, Ségolène Royal, would win the election.

Ms Royal has sought to cement her leftwing standing after a dip in the polls to 22-24% and accusations that she lacks a clear strategy. The self-styled "mother of the nation" who promises to listen to the people and set up citizens' juries to monitor politicians, has fleshed out her ideas on work and the economy. But last week her "first chance contract", a plan to encourage small firms to hire school leavers, angered some in her party while rivals warned it could be costly and unrealistic.

Both the centrist François Bayrou and the far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen, who shocked France by knocking out the Socialists at the first round in 2002, have recently risen slightly in the polls. In theory, any of the top four candidates still has a chance of making it through.

Mr Le Pen, who claimed "a large part" of his voters were "hidden among the people who say they will vote for Nicolas Sarkozy", has upped his attacks on the rightwing frontrunner.

He told French TV that Mr Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian minor aristocrat and a mother of Greek Jewish origin, was the candidate "from immigration". The Socialists rushed to Mr Sarkozy's defence, calling the comments xenophobic and "unacceptable".

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