Socialist former French PM calls for united front

A Socialist former French prime minister is urging Nicolas Sarkozy’s major rivals to unite in a nearly unthinkable alliance to keep the front-running conservative party candidate out of the Elysee Palace.

Whoever wins, the two-round vote on April 22 and May 6 will lead to change in France, after 12 years under President Jacques Chirac marked by lacklustre economic progress and troubles integrating Arab and black youths. Chirac is not running this time.

Sarkozy, a hard-charging and divisive former interior minister who has called for a break with the past, has led polls since he was named candidate for Chirac’s party in January. Surveys suggest that he would face Socialist Segolene Royal in the runoff – and would beat her.

However, there’s a wild card: centrist Francois Bayrou, who has risen in polls in recent weeks and is now snapping at Royal’s heels. If Bayrou makes the runoff, polls indicate he would beat Sarkozy.

Based on that electoral calculus, Socialist former Prime Minister Michel Rocard said he wants Bayrou and Royal to join forces to keep Sarkozy out of the presidency.

“I therefore call on Francois Bayrou and Segolene Royal to, before the first round, tell the French people that they set themselves on the way toward this alliance,” Rocard wrote in Le Monde.

“This is the chance for France,” he added.

The suggestion highlights how tense and tight this race has been. With just nine days before the first round, many voters remain undecided.

The comments from Rocard, a European parliament politician who was French prime minister from 1988 to 1991, amounted to an admission that Royal cannot win on her own against Sarkozy.

On a campaign stop in eastern France, Royal brushed off Rocard’s recommendation, saying she was focusing on “the real questions” in this campaign. Her campaign director declined to comment.