French election: Sarkozy and Hollande in final push
Baku, May 4 (AZERTAC). Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande are making their final pitch for votes in one of the most dramatic elections in recent French history.
Opinion polls suggest the incumbent president has cut Mr Hollande`s lead slightly but is still trailing his Socialist challenger by some 6%.
Analysts say he needs a major reversal in fortunes to win on Sunday.
He suffered a blow when centrist Francois Bayrou, who took 9.1% in the first round, backed Mr Hollande.
In a radio interview on Friday, Mr Sarkozy said he would form a new government in 48 hours if re-elected.
He is also set to give a speech at Sables d`Olonne in western France.
Mr Hollande will travel to Moselle for a campaign speech, followed by a visit to Perigueux in the Dordogne region for his final rally.
Mr Bayrou, who came fifth in the first round of voting, said he would be voting for Mr Hollande.
Though he once served with the president in a right-wing cabinet, he said Mr Sarkozy had gone too far to the right, abandoning European values and moving too close to the far right`s position on immigration.
Speaking to Europe 1 radio on Friday, Mr Sarkozy retorted that he had won the election in 2007 without Mr Bayrou`s endorsement.
"There is a feeling among the French that this avalanche of commentaries and polls... is robbing them of some of their freedom," he said.
The two rival candidates engaged in a heated televised debate on Wednesday night, watched by an estimated 17.9 million people.
On Thursday, they held their final mass rallies in friendly territory: Mr Sarkozy in the southern port of Toulon and Mr Hollande in the south-western city of Toulouse.
"Victory is within a hand`s reach, yours, the hand of each citizen who will cast his ballot - I won`t say which one - and with this vote, change will be enabled," Mr Hollande told the crowd in Toulouse.
He repeated his determination to renegotiate the EU fiscal compact to include action for growth.
Appearing on stage with Mr Hollande was Lionel Jospin, the former Socialist prime minister who was famously eliminated from the first round of the 2002 presidential election by the National Front.
Guillaume Journeaux, a grocer in the northern French city of Lille who strongly supports Mr Sarkozy, said he was concerned that defeat for his candidate would boost the far right in June`s parliamentary elections.
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