French candidates making final efforts

Socialist candidate Hollande has held an election campaign in the southern city of Toulouse, declaring his victory over Sarkozy “will be felt across Europe as a moment of hope” for a continent facing financial crisis.

In his speech, he reminded his supporters of his policies if he gets elected, including a tax rate of 75 percent on those who earn over a million euros, tackling the country’s high unemployment and renegotiating the European financial pact.

Earlier, Sarkozy defended his policies in a campaign rally in the southern city of Toulon, saying the coming election would be a “close-run contest” and no French voting had ever been so “undecided.”

Hollande and Sarkozy respectively won 28.4 and 25.5 percent of the ballots in the first round of the 2012 presidential election that took place on April 22, both falling short of an absolute majority necessary to win the election.

The final rallies come as polls consistently showed that Hollande was leading the race. If the opinion polls were proved correct, Sarkozy would be the first president since 1981 not to be elected for the second term.

Meanwhile, Sarkozy faced a fresh blow on Thursday, after leader of the centrist Democratic Movement Francois Bayrou put his weight behind the front-running Hollande.

Bayrou said, “I, personally, will vote for Francois Hollande,” in the May 6 election.

On Friday, Hollande will travel to Moselle for his final campaign speech, followed by a visit to Perigueux in the Dordogne region. Sarkozy is also expected to address his followers at Sables d’Olonne in western France.

The election campaigns will finish on Friday at 23:00 local time.

SAB/MA

Views: 0

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes