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Sarkozy under fire

Vaiju Naravane

Nicolas Sarkozy

Paris: Conservative French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy was on Friday accused of using pressure tactics to scuttle a televised debate between his socialist rival Segolene Royal and the third man, centrist Francois Bayrou.

Mr. Sarkozy topped the list of first round contenders with 31.4 per cent of the vote with Ms. Royal (26 per cent) in second place. Mr. Bayrou was third with 18.6 per cent and has now become the kingmaker whose voters are coveted by the two finalists. But the latest polls indicate that Ms. Royal is quickly closing the gap between them and the results of the second and final round on May 6 appear uncertain, though Mr. Sarkozy is still credited with a slight lead.

Mr. Bayrou ruled out any support for Mr. Sarkozy when he described him as being "dangerous for democracy." He said he was prepared to participate in a televised debate with Ms. Royal to thrash out convergences and divergences between them. But the TV channel that was to host the debate suddenly retracted.

Mr. Bayrou told French radio he was "convinced" the former Interior Minister was behind the decision to cancel. "When I referred to Nicolas Sarkozy's taste for intimidation and threat, this is exactly what I meant."

Ms. Royal said: "These are methods from another age. They say a lot about a certain amount of conniving with powerful financial media interests." Her advisers accused Mr. Sarkozy of "behaving like a French Berlusconi" acting as if the media were at his beck-and-call.

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