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PARIS - Conservative leader Nicolas Sarkozy secured a commanding lead in the opening round of France's presidential election on Sunday and will face Socialist rival Segolene Royal in a run-off on May 6.
A huge turnout underscored the interest the election has generated, with France's volatile voters reversing
a previous trend and shunning the political extremes in favour of the mainstream leftist and right-wing parties.
Sarkozy, a former interior minister, promises to reward hard work and wage war on crime. He looked well placed to win the decisive vote after chalking up the highest first-round score for a rightist presidential hopeful since 1969.
With almost all the ballots counted, Sarkozy was credited with 31 per cent of the vote while Royal was on 25.64 per cent.
Centrist Francois Bayrou came third with 18.4 per cent and far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who stunned France by coming second in the 2002 election, finished fourth on 11 per cent -- his lowest score in his last three attempts at the presidency.
Four polls carried out late Sunday put Sarkozy at between 52 and 54 per cent in the second round showdown, and Royal, seeking to become France's first woman president, on 46-48 per cent.
Sarkozy's biggest problem as he heads into the second round is his reputation as an authoritarian bully, with rivals accusing him of courting the hard-right vote, cosying up to big business and looking to turn France into a US poodle.
In a speech to cheering supporters on Sunday night, a relaxed, happy-looking Sarkozy immediately tried to soften his image and reached out to the political centre.
"The France I dream of is a France that leaves no-one behind, a France which is like a family, where the weakest, the most vulnerable, the most fragile have the right to as much love, as much respect and as much attention as the strongest," he said.
Jubilant Socialist fans at party headquarters waved red roses at news Royal had made it through to the run-off, relieved there was no repeat of the nightmare of 2002, when Le Pen tapped into a big protest vote and eliminated their candidate.
"There are many of us today ... who don't want a France dominated by the law of the strongest and most brutal and blocked in by the power of money where power in concentrated in the hands of always the same few people," Royal told supporters.
Leading the field in the first round does not guarantee ultimate success. Twice in the last five elections, in 1974 and 1995, the first-round winner lost the run-off.
But Royal, who has been dogged by questions about her competence after campaign gaffes, faces a daunting challenge.
The combined score for leftist candidates on Sunday was little more than 35 per cent, amid signs that France has shifted distinctly to the right. She will have to hope Bayrou's voters, traditionally right-leaning, turn her way en masse.
The election marks a generational shift for France, with conservative President Jacques Chirac, 74, retiring after 12 years in power, and both Sarkozy and Royal in their early 50s.
Whoever replaces Chirac will inherit a fractured country that has the highest unemployment rate of any major industrial power and multi-ethnic suburbs simmering with discontent.
Sarkozy wants the French to work harder and pay less tax, and is promising swift reforms to curb union powers, slim government and toughen sentencing for repeat offenders.
Royal, a regional leader who has held only junior government posts, presents herself as a healing force for a divided nation.
She has promised to raise the minimum wage, create 500,000 jobs for young workers and wants to reward companies that innovate and invest in France. She has also suggested setting up boot camps for young offenders.
Both candidates will immediately hit the campaign trail on Monday. Sarkozy addresses a rally in the eastern city of Dijon and Royal travelling to Valence in southern France.
The two will hold a potentially decisive head-to-head television debate on May 2.
- REUTERS
