Sarkozy takes strong lead over Royal

Paris: Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy has seized a strong lead over Socialist Segolene Royal in the first round of France's presidential election and must now woo centrist voters if he is to win the run-off vote on May 6.

With almost all ballots in Sunday's voting counted, Sarkozy had 31.1 per cent, Royal 25.8 per cent, centrist Francois Bayrou 18.5 per cent and far-right head Jean-Marie Le Pen 10.5 per cent.

Four opinion polls late on Sunday showed Sarkozy, a former interior minister, looked set to win the run-off and dash Royal's dream of becoming France's first female president.

Jean-Louis Borloo, the popular labour minister who is backing Sarkozy, offered one option to win centrist backing.

"If Nicolas Sarkozy were president, I would think it would be necessary, vital, fortuitous that there be UDF members massively present in the government," Borloo told French radio, quickly adding it was up to Sarkozy and Bayrou to decide this.

Reaching out to the same centrist voters now up for grabs, Royal sought to stoke an undercurrent of concern about Sarkozy by saying she refused "to cultivate fear" and opposed "a France dominated by the law of the strongest or most brutal".

Apart from the two-horse campaign over the next two weeks between Sarkozy and Royal, who are due to hold a televised debate on May 2, all eyes will be on centrist leader Bayrou to see if he advises his voters to back either candidate.

"Bayrou will be the most sought-after politician in the next two weeks," Europe 1 radio said. But Bayrou's campaign director, Marielle de Sarnez, told Le Parisien newspaper: "One thing is sure: we are not for sale!"

Both candidates were due on the campaign trail on Monday, with Sarkozy addressing a rally in the eastern city of Dijon and Royal travelling to Valence in southern France.