French left calls on voters to kick ‘Merkozy’ out of the Élysée Palace

As Mr Sarkozy headed to the Mediterranean resort of Nice, where the far right enjoys strong support, Mr Hollande urged those angry over unemployment and economic gloom and tempted by National Front leader Marine Le Pen to listen to him instead.

In the industrial northeast, Mr Hollande spoke of hardships: “This is a region that put its faith in Nicolas Sarkozy, who came here making speeches on industry, jobs, workers. Everybody can see the scale of the disappointment,” he said.

“There is an anger which must not fan a shift to the extreme right,” he said in the town of Vitry-le-Francois.

Mr Sarkozy faces defeat in part because a 2007 campaign pledge to get France “working more to earn more” was derailed by an economic crisis that has driven up jobless claims to a 12-year high. A dislike of his personal manner also weighs against him.

A swathe of final polls published yesterday mostly showed Mr Sarkozy’s support eroding, while Mr Hollande’s backing held steady.

The two rivals are about 10 points ahead of third-ranked Ms Le Pen, the far-right leader, with leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon, the surprise of the campaign, challenging her for third place.

Mr Sarkozy and Mr Hollande are set to face off in a 6 May decider for which the Socialist has a comfortable lead of between 7 and 14 percentage points.

That would give France its first left-wing head of state in 17 years just as new concerns over debt in the eurozone are throwing strained public finances in the bloc’s number two economy under the spotlight.

As final opinion polls showed Mr Hollande pulling further ahead, the two rivals clashed over the euro crisis on the last day of campaigning before a midnight blackout.

Mr Sarkozy said his role helping steer the eurozone through the worst of its debt crisis made him the safest pair of hands, while Mr Hollande blamed his adversary for mismanaging France’s public finances.

“The risk of the euro imploding doesn’t exist anymore,” Mr Sarkozy said. “Europe is convalescent. That’s a reality. We can’t afford any mistakes. The minute we ease up on cutting spending, reducing the deficit, reducing the debt, France will share the fate of Spain.”

Mr Hollande argued that France’s budget problems were the result of five years of Mr Sarkozy’s policies, and called for European action to revive growth to fight the debt crisis.

“The important thing is to put our public finances in order. They’ve been turned completely upside down these past years due to irresponsible fiscal policy and the crisis,” he said.

He called for the European Central Bank (ECB) to take a radically different role by lending directly to troubled eurozone states rather than to banks, and by keeping interest rates low. But he acknowledged Germany opposed expanding the ECB’s role.

Financial markets worry that Mr Hollande’s focus on tax rises over spending cuts, and his plan to raise taxation on the financial sector, could drive up French bond yields and spur volatility in stock markets.

An Ipsos poll showed Mr Sarkozy down 1.5 points on 25.5 per cent in round one, with Mr Hollande on 29. A Harris Interactive poll gave Mr Sarkozy 26.5 per cent to Mr Hollande’s 27.5. #

Firebrand Mr Melenchon vowed to break up the Franco-German “Merkozy” leadership duo with conservative German chancellor Angela Merkel which, he said, had imposed austerity on the people of Europe. And he said he would exert strong influence from outside on any Hollande-led Socialist government.

“The revolutions in Latin America are a source of inspiration for us,” he told foreign media at his headquarters in a disused shoe factory on the eastern edge of Paris.

Mr Melenchon said his party’s priority was to get Mr Sarkozy out of power and then pull a Hollande government to the left.