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Now, Royal has slight edge

Vaiju Naravane

Both candidates achieved what they set out to do

— PHOTO: AFP

French presidential candidates Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal before the start of their televised debate in Boulogne-Billancourt, west Paris, on Wednesday.

Paris: Over 20 million viewers watched the two finalists in the French presidential race, Socialist Segolene Royal and Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, slug it out on a televised debate that lasted over two and a half hours. The two now face each other in the final vote on May 6. Polls published so far say Mr. Sarkozy will be the winner though his likely margin of victory is said to be narrowing.

At the end of the evening on Wednesday, the jury was still out as to who had carried the debate though opinion was slightly in favour of Ms. Royal. In a sense both candidates achieved what they set out to do. Ms. Royal appeared more pugnacious and coherent, displaying a new grasp over the issues at stake. Mr. Sarkozy was smooth as honey, giving the lie to the charge that he is aggressive and authoritarian.

Their most fiery exchange was over guaranteeing places for handicapped children in ordinary schools. When Ms. Royal attacked Mr. Sarkozy on the pitifully small number of handicapped children attending regular school in France, Mr. Sarkozy accused her of losing her cool. "I'm not losing my cool. What you see is healthy anger at an evident injustice," she snapped back, calling him politically immoral to condone such injustice.

Intolerant

Mr. Sarkozy called his opponent's behaviour "intolerant." On Thursday, the day after the debate, Mr. Sarkozy complained that he had been surprised by her "show of aggressiveness." He said in a radio interview: "Some quarters of the left consider anyone who does not share their ideas as illegitimate."

Ms. Royal said Mr. Sarkozy "did not dare" repeat during the debate some of the accusations he has directed at her during the campaign. He "reminds me of those children who kick and then cry out first to make out that it was their playmate who hit first," Ms. Royal told French radio.

The press and public generally agreed that the debate was for the most part a draw but which gave a slight advantage to Ms. Royal.

Francois Bayrou, the centrist candidate who came third in the first round of voting, said on Thursday, "I will certainly not vote for Mr. Sarkozy next Sunday." However, he did not explicitly say he would be voting for Ms. Royal.

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