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PARIS - After a week in which his opponents accused him of everything but eating babies, Nicolas Sarkozy was bound to adopt a gentler tone for his last big election rally in Paris.
Except that he didn't. The centre-right candidate gave a cheering crowd of 20,000 people a
piece of vintage "Sarko" - 80 minutes of finger-jabbing indignation against the political system to which he has belonged for 20 years.
True, Sarkozy, 52, centre-right candidate for the presidency, angrily denied that he was a fascist or even a "nationalist". He reminded the crowd that Charles de Gaulle, had also been accused of having fascist, anti-democratic leanings.
True, Sarkozy promised, if elected, to introduce a small dose of proportional representation into one of the two houses of the French Parliament.
Otherwise, it was a high-octane performance of controlled populism, touching every button of anger and indignation in a country with as many grumbles as types of cheese.
Sarkozy said that he wanted to be the "spokesman for France". He wanted to stand up to all those who fleeced the French people. They included "politicians, technocrats, trades unionists and fraudsters". Presumably, Sarkozy does not count himself as a politician.
This was the language of the extreme, populist right, in the name - Sarkozy insisted - of consensual, pragmatic, liberalising reform. Sarkozy may not be a fascist, but he is not afraid of sounding like one.
This may be the secret of his success but it also explains why a large part of France is scared of the prospect, even the probability, of a Sarkozy presidency.
Although he has led the opinion polls since mid-January, Sarkozy has been thrown on to the defensive in the last few days. Segolene Royal has been creeping upwards in the polls. She came within four points of Sarkozy in a survey yesterday. The overwhelming focus of the first half of the second round campaign has been the character and personality of Sarkozy.
The most vicious attacks have come from defeated centrist Francois Bayrou, who has twice spoken of what he calls Sarkozy's "taste for confrontation and menace". Although he has formally refused to back Royal, Bayrou has become her de facto ally against Sarkozy.
- INDEPENDENT