Which candidate will capture the French public mood and succeed Jacques Chirac to the presidency?
Whose picture will appear on French television screens on the evening of May 6, and succeed the outgoing president Jacques Chirac? If France were accustomed to the British betting system, thousands of people would win or lose money on this question. After months of an informal electoral campaign, the highly controversial Nicolas Sarkozy, leader of the Union for a Popular Movement, still seems the favourite to win, although he lost four points in the latest poll available. His decision to put respect for work at the heart of his policies, his affirmed toughness against crime, and his willingness to soften the rigid French labour market and implement liberal reforms have all proved popular with the electorate. Opinion polls put him on around 30 per cent of stable expressed voting intentions. Sarkozys victory, however, is far from inevitable. A divisive figure on the French political scene and on the right itself, he is much less popular among women and young people. There is a clear conf
