Presidential race heats up as Sarkozy hails manifesto

France’s election race will pick up pace next week after being thrown off course by an Islamist gunman, with Nicolas Sarkozy unveiling his manifesto and opponents set to tear it apart.

Mohamed Merah’s killings of three soldiers, a rabbi and three Jewish children in the worst terrorist attacks in France since the 1990 prompted presidential candidates to suspend campaigning for several days from Mar 19 and the nation is only just emerging from a distressed daze.

Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman who said he had links to al Qaida, was buried near Toulouse yesterday.