First Round of Presidential Election 2007 in France- Sarkozy and Royal in the Final

The first round of the French presidential election took place today, 22 April 2007. The two candidates who will be in the second round of voting are the favorites, Nicolas Sarkozy of the UMP party (right of center politically) and Segolene Royal of the PS (Parti Socialist). Sarkozy took 30.4% of the vote, and Royal took 25.0%. Francois Bayrou of the centrist UDF party took 18.8% of the vote in a good showing. The firebrand ultra-nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen finished 4th with a surprisingly low 11.1% of the vote. He was actually in the final two in the last election in 2002. The remainder of the vote was spread over 8 other candidates, none of whom garnered more than 4%. One commentator noted that both extremes were soundly defeated, on both the political left and right.

Read Full Article: First Round 2007 French Presidential Election

France Election Will Be Close

The first round of the presidential election is only 9 days away, and it is still up in the air as to which two candidates will face each other in the second round two weeks later.

The polls have remained pretty much the same as they have been with Nicolas Sarkozy leading Segolene Royal coming in second, followed by Francois Bayrou in third.

The big question is how will the people who are still undecided vote. Polls are notoriously inaccurate in France, and the large number of people still undecided, about 1/3 of the voting population, is no doubt one reason. There should be a big turn-out, and the results will be interesting for sure.

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