Le Pen refuses to endorse Sarkozy

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen delivered a further blow to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s re-election hopes by refusing to endorse him and telling her 6m supporters to make their own choice at Sunday’s ballot.

Sarkozy, who faces off against socialist François Hollande on May 6, needs many of the 17.9% of voters who chose National Front leader Le Pen last week to switch to backing him in the runoff if he is to overcome first-round winner Hollande.

But Le Pen, who came third on Apr 22 with a score that eclipsed her father’s record at the head of the populist protest movement, told a rally in Paris that she personally would spoil her ballot paper in the second round by choosing to vote for neither of the two remaining contenders.