French president Nicolas Sarkozy made a final appeal to far-right voters today after struggling in a heated televised debate with Socialist rival Francois Hollande before Sunday's presidential runoff.
Mr Hollande, ahead in opinion polls by six to 10 points, was calm and unflappable during the nearly three-hour debate last night while the conservative Mr Sarkozy, struggling to catch up with the moderate social democrat, appeared agitated and tense.
Commentators said the confrontation, watched by 17.8 million people out of an electorate of 44.5 million, was probably a draw but its outcome appeared to favour Mr Hollande by laying to rest doubts about the character of a man who has never held a ministerial position.
"The question asked before the debate was could Francois Hollande be a president? After yesterday, no-one can say he cannot, so he won," said Dominique Reynie, professor at Sciences Po university and head of the liberal think-tank Fondapol.
Returning to the airwaves today in a bid to convince undecided voters, Mr Sarkozy appealed to the nearly one-fifth of voters who backed the National Front in the first round on April 22nd.
In a setback for Mr Sarkozy, far-right leader Marine Le Pen refused to endorse him this week.
"An election has never been this open. The opinion polls are lying ... And it's even more open after the debate," Mr Sarkozy told RTL radio. "I want to speak directly to National Front voters ... Who would benefit if you cast a blank vote?
It would benefit Hollande, the regularisation of illegal immigrants, crazy overspending." Television commentators said Mr Sarkozy had performed "like a boxer" in the debate and Mr Hollande "like a judo fighter", using flashes of wit to unbalance his rival.
"Hollande still favourite after the debate," Le Monde wrote on its front page, while right-leaning Le Figaro, with a headline "High Tension", emphasised the bitterness of the exchanges. It noted that every euro zone leader to seek re-election since 2008 had lost, but divisions on the left and Mr Hollande's tax-and-spend policies gave Mr Sarkozy a chance.
Mr Hollande (57) was confident and relaxed in the early exchanges of Wednesday's contest, saying he aimed to be "the president of justice" and "the president of unity".
He said Sarkozy, in office since 2007, had divided the French people and was using the global economic crisis as an excuse for broken promises.
"With you it's very simple: it's never your fault," Mr Hollande said.
Mr Sarkozy, fighting for his political life, repeatedly accused his opponent of lying about economic figures and reeled off reams of statistics in an attempt to swamp his adversary.
Deriding Mr Hollande's pledge to be a "normal president", Mr Sarkozy said: "Your normality is not up to the challenge."
Markets appeared unfazed at the prospect of France electing its first Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995.
The yield on 10-year French bonds held steady below 3 per cent at an auction today.
Mr Hollande has soothed investors' concerns in recent weeks by moderating his call for the renegotiation of a German-inspired European budget discipline treaty, which many had feared would derail efforts to deal with euro zone crisis.
"The conflict that the market had perceived to happen if Hollande came to power may not be as insurmountable as first thought," said John Davies, fixed income strategist at West LB.
Europe was one of the main subjects of the debate, as well as the sickly economy, high unemployment, nuclear power and immigration.
"The example I want to follow is Germany and not Spain or Greece," Mr Sarkozy said.