Sarkozy v Hollande on the economy

As goes the French economy, so goes the reelection chances of French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Although Sarkozy leads in round one, polls show that lead is shrinking at a pace that suggests he will not carry round one. More importantly, Sarkozy is trailing again by double digits in polls for the decisive round two. For those not familiar with elections in France, round one pits candidates from all the parties against each other on April 22. If no one gets 50%, the top two finishers square off in round two, on May 6.

The EU Observer reports France to hold jobs summit as unemployment hits 12-year high A sharp rise in France's unemployment figures is putting pressure on President Nicolas Sarkozy to deliver, with over half the French population wanting the candidates for the spring presidential election to focus their energies on maintaining jobs.

Politics are heating up in France and Germany as French president Nicolas Sarkozy clings to his political life and German chancellor Angela Merkel is under increasing pressure over more bailouts. The Financial Times reports Merkel to join Sarkozy on campaign trail

As a refresher course in French politics, presidential elections are a two-stage process. In the first round, voters select from candidates of all the political parties. The second round pits the top two vote getters against each other. Never before in history has a sitting French president polled so low 100 days before the first round of votes.

To the victor, belongs the spoils. Had former French president Nicolas Sarkozy won reelection, he certainly would not be under investigation for illegally funding his campaign, nor there would be an investigation regarding his involvement in fraudulent arms sales to Pakistan.

Socialist Francois Hollande is surging ahead of incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in recent polls measuring voting intentions for the French presidential election. For example, for the first round of the elections to be held on April 22, the LH2-Yahoo poll and the Ifop polls have Hollande ahead by a margin of 30.5%-23%.0 and 29%-25.5%, respectively. Most importantly, for the second and decisive round to be held on May 5th, Holland's lead has increased and now stands at 58%-42% and 57%-43% respectively, according to the aforementioned polls.

The final result order of the first round of the Presidential election in France was pretty well forecast by pollsters: Hollande, the leftist, came ahead of the incumbent Sarkozy, both qualifying for the second round, with 28.6% and 27.2% of votes respectively. The result was well foreseen as the rise of Sarkozy in the polls ...