Sarkozy to leave politics if defeated

Opinion polls suggest Sarkozy is lagging behind Francois Hollande, who is expected to face him in the two-round vote in April and May.

“I worry when I look at the Socialist candidate’s program … and I worry about this dearth of experience in such a troubled period. But if the French people do not put their faith in me, do you really think I would carry on in politics? The answer is no,” Sarkozy said on Thursday.

Hollande has extended his lead slightly this week, advancing 2 points to 30 percent support for the first round, while Sarkozy gained only 1 point to 28 percent.

A recent poll by CSA showed Hollande would beat Sarkozy with 56 percent of the vote in a second round runoff May 6.

Earlier in the week, Sarkozy said that France has too many foreigners and the system for integrating them was “working worse and worse”. Critics accused him of competing for the votes of the far right.

The Socialist called Sarkozy’s immigration plans “stupid”. Sarkozy wants to cut the number of new arrivals from 180,000 per year to 100,000 a year.

Sarkozy, 57, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, also said he wanted to restrict some benefit payments to immigrants who had been in the country for 10 years.

PG/JR

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