France’s presidential election tomorrow is a ground-breaker – a choice between an immigrant’s son and an army officer’s daughter, each offering a radically different vision of how to put a dispirited nation back on track.

Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royal advanced to a run-off for the French presidency today offering voters a stark choice of left or right for a nation eager for new direction.

FRENCH interior minister and right wing favourite Nicolas Sarkozy launched his campaign for the presidency at a triumphant party congress in Paris, issuing an appeal to voters of all persuasions to make him a “president of the people” at April’s election.