Sarkozy ahead after TV debate

2007-05-03 20:33

Swaha Pattanaik, Crispian Balmer and Francois Murphy

Paris - French conservative Nicolas Sarkozy outshone his Socialist rival Segolene Royal in a televised debate, boosting his position as clear favourite to win Sunday's presidential election, showed an opinion poll on Thursday.

Socialists attacked the Opinionway poll for the conservative daily Le Figaro and most media judged Wednesday's debate a draw.

The poll showed 53% of viewers found Sarkozy more convincing in the debate against 31% for Royal.

In a sometimes fiery exchange, Royal was surprisingly pugnacious in taking on a generally restrained Sarkozy but neither candidate delivered any of the kind of lethal one-liners or gaffes likely to sway voters decisively.

"Each camp will celebrate its champion and deride the adversary," said the daily Le Parisien.

The influential daily Le Monde said the debate was unlikely to turn the campaign round and said the "disappointing" exchange gave little sense of the way forward for France.

Debate doesn't decide

But it gave a cautious endorsement of Royal, saying victory would give her the authority to renew the left in France.

"It's a gamble. For the country, it's worth trying," said Jean-Marie Colombani, Le Monde's editor.

Sarkozy, who has led in more than 100 opinion polls since the start of the year, said he did not believe the debate would change the pattern of the campaign.

"I don't think everything is decided by a debate, however much of a media event it may be," he said.

An opinion poll published late on Wednesday put Sarkozy's support at 53.5% against 46.5% for Royal, with 86% saying they will not change their minds before the May 6 vote.

Royal denied the race was as good as over. "Opinion polls don't decide elections," she said.

The directors of her campaign team issued a statement, denouncing the Opinionway poll, the first issued on the debate, and asked "Who profits from a survey like this?"

'A stilted speaker'

The first and only debate in the election race was watched by a peak audience of 23.1 million viewers, more than half of France's 44.5 million voters.

One important viewer, centrist Francois Bayrou, who took third place in the first round of the election and whose 7 million voters could play a key role, appeared to favour Royal.

"I will not vote for Sarkozy," Le Monde quoted him saying.

Royal, often seen as a stilted speaker, attacked Sarkozy from the start, while the often abrasive former interior minister was at pains to restrain his gladiatorial instincts which delight his supporters but often alienate neutrals.

- Reuters