The center-right's Francois Bayrou continues to inch up in the public opinion polls, and he's now tied Socialist candidate Segolene Royal for 2nd place. Given that polls have shown Bayrou could defeat either Royal or front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy in a run-off, the presidential race is very much up for grabs.
One interesting turn is that Ms. Royal is not doing particularly well with women voters. Sarkozy is leading with that (largest) set of the electorate. And as an example of that, he recently picked up the support of the famed Simone Veil.
Posted by armand at March 11, 2007 10:54 AM | TrackBack | Posted to International AffairsI've been a Bayrou fan going on seven years now and I've always considered his ideas to be the most sensible in the French political scene. While I'm consistently irritated with Royal's vague and mathematically difficult policy proposals, I fear a milder version of the previous election. So here's hoping that it's a run-off between (center?)left and center, rather than center and center-right.
Posted by: Forseti at March 11, 2007 01:42 PM | PERMALINKAh yes, the problem of labeling who's "center" etc. in French politics. And I suppose perhaps I should have labeled Bayrou as a centrist, not center-right (though as those labels are so ambiguous ...).
Posted by: Armand at March 11, 2007 03:23 PM | PERMALINK