How Do France's Presidential Candidates Stand In The Polls On The Eve Of The Election?

All political analysts seem to agree that the French presidential race is too close to call and that there will be a second round of voting. Nicolas Sarkozy, the centre-right's presidential candidate, still maintains a very slim lead over his key rival, the Socialist Party's Segolene Royal. According to the most recent opinion poll, published on 19 April 2007 by BVA, Sarkozy leads with 29%, with Royal trailing slightly at 25%. What makes the result so unpredictable, is that more than one third of all voters indicated that they may change their mind before voting day, namely Sunday, 22 April 2007. Such a high level of undecided voters is unusual at this late stage in the campaign.  


The centrist Francois Bayrou remains in third place at 15% and Jean-Marie Le Pen, the candidate of the far right National Front is in fourth place with 13%. Le Pen, however, is expected to do better than this in the election, as past elections have shown that his support is often underestimated by pollsters.