French poll is a royal dogfight

2007-04-30 22:08

Paris - French presidential underdog Segolene Royal said on Monday she was ready for a do-or-die television debate with rightist rival Nicolas Sarkozy, denying suggestions she might be afraid of her pugnacious opponent.

The two go head-to-head on Wednesday, just four days before the second round of the presidential election, and the Socialist candidate Royal needs to win the TV debate to boost her ratings.

Sarkozy, a lawyer by training, is one of the most formidable debaters in French politics thanks to his powerful grasp of policy, exceptional memory and sharp tongue.

But Royal, who has spent a lifetime in politics, told reporters on Monday she was not worried about the encounter which could prove her last chance to haul in her opponent, who has led every opinion poll since mid-January.

"All my life has been built around dialogue and debate. I don't flee anyone," she told a news conference.

"Why do you think this debate, this dialogue should in any way worry me," she added. "I am ready by definition."

Huge audience for TV poll debate

The two-hour confrontation will be screened simultaneously by France's two biggest television channels from 9 p.m. (1900 GMT), and is expected to get the sort of audience share normally reserved for a soccer World Cup final.

Royal has already said she will use the eagerly awaited clash to focus on the record of the outgoing government, in which Sarkozy served as interior minister and finance minister.

Throughout the campaign he has portrayed himself as an outsider, sounding more like an opposition leader than the head of the ruling party, in a bid to distance himself from five years of rule marked by social tension and economic struggles.

"I think he has to accept this debate and above all take into account his actions over the past five years," said Royal, who has looked relaxed and confident since the first round vote.

Sarkozy himself compared the debate to the toughest stage of the gruelling Tour de France bicycle race.

Commentators say he will have to make sure he does not appear to be overly aggressive as this would play into the hands of leftists who have branded him as a bullying authoritarian.

But he has ruled out suggestions he should rein himself in during the debate just because Royal is a woman.

"This idea that you should not debate with a woman in the same way that you do with a man is quite macho I think. I am going to debate with her with respect, but also with firmness, and, I might add, a certain pleasure," he told Canal+ TV.

There are no head-to-head debates before the first round of a French election and no debates at all in the last vote in 2002 because President Jacques Chirac refused to meet his rival in the second round run off -- far right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Debate can tilt the scales

However, previous encounters have helped swing the result.

In 1974, young finance minister Valery Giscard d'Estaing saw off Socialist contender Francois Mitterrand with the knock-out one-liner: "You do not have a monopoly of the heart."

In 1981, Mitterrand turned the tables on the haughty Giscard d'Estaing by saying: "You may know a lot about figures but you don't know much about human beings."

And the old Socialist outfoxed Chirac psychologically in their 1988 debate, insistently calling him "Mr Prime Minister" until the conservative challenger replied respectfully "Mr President", despite having said he wouldn't.

- Reuters