Paris Voters look set to turn their backs on conservative Nicolas Sarkozy in Sunday's first round of an election that could give France its first left-wing president in 17 years just as fears resurface over Europe's sovereign debt crisis.
A sickly economy and a deep dislike of Sarkozy's flashy style have dominated the campaign, but the outside world's doubts about France's commitment to balance its public finances are also at stake as feeble growth threatens deficit-cutting targets in Europe's No 2 economy.
The centre-right president, an impulsive showman, and his bland Socialist challenger, Francois Hollande, are neck-and-neck in opinion polls for the first round on about 27-28 per cent. But Hollande has a wide lead in voting intentions for a May 6 runoff between the top two candidates.
International stage
Far-right anti-immigration crusader Marine Le Pen, who wants France to abandon the euro, looks set to come third, with hard left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon fourth and centrist Francois Bayrou fifth, polls show.
Sarkozy has been a striking figure on the international stage for five years, leading the European response to the global financial crisis, spearheading Western military action in Libya and working in close partnership with powerful German Chancellor Angela Merkel to manage the Eurozone crisis.
But at home, he is unpopular because of a leadership style criticised as vulgar and for being too close to the rich, as well as feeling the brunt of anger over rife unemployment and economic gloom.
"There is a very deep rejection of Nicolas Sarkozy," said a former conservative politician who l eft the ruling UMP party last year. "This election is above all a rejection of his person, of this omnipresent and arrogant government."
Hollande, 57, promises to tread a fiscally responsible path, but his focus on tax rises over spending cuts and his call to renegotiate a European budget discipline pact has some analysts concerned that he would create a new Eurozone stress point.
The Socialist says he wants to change Europe's direction by leading a drive for growth-promoting measures instead of austerity if he wins, setting up a potential clash with Merkel.
Polls will be open on Sunday from 8am (0600 GMT) to 6pm (1600 GMT), and two hours extra in big cities.
Reliable projections of the result based on a partial count are published as soon as the last polling stations close at 8pm (1800 GMT). The authorities are threatening big fines to try to prevent exit polls and partial results leaking out on Twitter and the internet before that deadline.
Feeble growth
France is struggling with feeble growth, a gaping trade deficit, stubbornly high 10 per cent unemployment and strained public finances that prompted Standard & Poor's to cut its triple-A credit in January.
"You can't detach France from what's going on in the wider Eurozone and this election happens to coincide with a lot of other things that are exacerbating concern about the vote," said Nomura chief political analyst Alastair Newton, noting that Greece has an election the same day as the French runoff.
