France Elections Live Blog

Al Jazeera brings you up-to-the-minute reporting from France for the 2012 presidential elections. Ten candidates are competing in the first round of voting on April 22, and the two finalists will face off in the second round on May 6.

5 hours 52 min ago - France

More on those comments from President Sarkozy, alleging a media campaign against him. Here's the video:

Tags France, France Elections, France Votes 2012
6 hours 59 min ago - France

President Nicolas Sarkozy is speaking now, blaming media and pollsters for a negative campaign against him.

Al Jazeera's Jackie Rowland said that now his approach would be "to portray himself as the underdog, as a victim of the left-wing media, to try to turn things around before the second round of voting on May 6".

Tags France, France Elections
8 hours 45 min ago - France

As the field in the French presidential poll narrows to two, Al Jazeera's Jackie Rowland, reporting from Paris, analyses potential next steps for President Nicolas Sarkozy and his rival, Francois Hollande.

With Socialist candidate Hollande almost guaranteed to pick up the votes of leftists, can Sarkozy win over the far right, which expressed record support for the National Front's Marine Le Pen in Sunday's first round?

 

Tags France, France Elections, France Votes 2012
8 hours 56 min ago - France

Will Sarkozy be able to pick up votes from the far right? Will the left unite against the incumbent in the second round? Al Jazeera Online's Yasmine Ryan is in Paris, keeping up with events there. You can read her latest report, analysing what last night's results mean for the second round of voting, here: "French show their disapproval of Sarkozy"

File 64556

Tags France Elections, France Votes 2012
11 hours 17 min ago - Paris

 

Socialist candidate Francois Hollande is leading France's presidential election race. He has won the first round of voting, but the situation is still uncertain.

Holande still faces opposition from incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy and pressure from the electorate of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

Tim Friend reports from Paris. 

Tags France Elections, Francois Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy
13 hours 15 min ago - Berlin

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to support French President Nicolas Sarkozy's re-election bid but has no plans to travel to France to campaign for him before a second round runoff next month, a German government spokesman said.

"As far as campaign appearances go, I am not aware of any plans. This is President Sarkozy's election campaign, not that of the German chancellor," deputy spokesman Georg Streiter told a regular news conference on Monday.

"The chancellor continues to support President Sarkozy," he added, noting that German and French leaders had worked well together in the post-war period regardless of who was in power.

Back in January, Merkel's conservative party announced that she would "actively support" Sarkozy's re-election campaign and that the two were planning several joint appearances. But in the run-up to the first round vote, Sarkozy shifted the focus of his campaign, de-emphasising ties with Berlin in favour of more populist themes like immigration and security.

[Reuters]

Tags Angela Merkel, France Elections, Germany, Nicolas Sarkozy
13 hours 52 min ago - Paris

 

Al Jazeera's Nadim Baba reported from Paris on Monday:

Some people may have been led to believe that Sarkozy stood no chance of even coming close to Francois Hollande in the last few days perhaps, but if you look at the opinion polls they have actually been borne out in terms of percentage points. We see that Francois Hollande is something like 2,5 percentage points ahead of Nicolas Sarkozy, that was roughly what he was or perhaps half a per cent more in the opinion polls.

The important thing though is that it's the first time that the serving president running for re-election hasn't been in front in the first round. But the real breakthrough belongs to the National Front, the far-right, and Persident Sarkozy has said that the French have thrown away the predictions and what he is really talking about is acknowledging that there has been a massive protest vote and the far right have done better than the opinion polls said.Partly because in general people don't admit they are going to vote for the far right in opinion polls in France, then they go ahead and do so.

But what is crucial now is that Nicolas Sarkozy may now have to try and attract more of those voters, the far right voters, perhaps even shift his discourse further towards the right ... but in doing so he may lose some of his centrist voters, and that is the risk.

Tags France Elections, Francois Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy
13 hours 58 min ago - Paris

 

A spokesperson for current French President Nicolas Sarkozy has accused his main challenger of avoiding debate in the run-up to the election.

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, addressing the media in Paris on Monday said: "Francois Hollande is trying to flee the debate since the beginning of this campaign. He doesn't want to have this debate. He is telling different things depending on who is his public. Nicolas Sarkozy, he is speaking to the whole of France, he has one truth, and I think the debate will be in his favour."

Hollande remains favourite to win the runoff after beating Sarkozy in the first round. If Hollande wins the second round, he would become the first socialist president since 1995.

[Source: AP]

Tags France Elections, Francois Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy
15 hours 36 min ago - Tulle

 

Francois Hollande jumps from the stage after delivering a speech in front of his supporters during the first round of the French presidential elections in Tulle, France, on Sunday. Hollande narrowly won the first round, setting himself up for a May 6 runoff with incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. [Image by EPA]

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Tags France Elections, Francois Hollande, runoff
15 hours 40 min ago - France

 

Early on Monday morning, Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign team sent around their first email to supporters for round two of the campaign. It quotes Sarkozy, saying:

I will continue to represent our values and our engagements: for respect of our borders, for the fight against outsource [French jobs moving overseas]; for immigration control, for the security of our families; for the promotion of work, of investment, innovation and growth.”

Tags campaign, France Elections, Nicolas Sarkozy, runoff
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