French charity workers charged with kidnapping 103 African children were stupid but sincere, a journalist held with them said today.

Presidential front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy said months of campaigning had made him think of France as a person, while rival Segolene Royal called herself a free woman and said election victory was within reach.

Presidential hopefuls Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal tonight urged their supporters to make a final push before voters go the polls on Sunday.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin presented a bill yesterday that would bypass parliament and urgently push through the government’s new jobs plan, a move that enraged the opposition.

French voters today delivered a stinging defeat to President Jacques Chirac’s government and its programme of painful economic reforms in regional elections that turned into a national vote of censure, exit polls showed.