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.