Royal fails to get Bayrou backing

The tone of the debate that lasted nearly two hours in a Paris hotel was polite and calm but the struggle by both candidates to woo the 6.8 million voters who backed Bayrou in last week’s first round of voting looks set to continue.

Little interest

Bayrou said that he was in “profound disagreement” with the Socialist on her economic proposals which he argued relied too heavily on state intervention.

 

Royal will now go head-to-head with Sarkozy in a televised debate on Wednesday evening.

But during campaigning in the northern town of Valenciennes on Saturday, the same debate was dismissed by Sarkozy as “small-time scheming” and he declared it held little interest for him.

The debate was initially to be shown on CanalPlus, but the station cancelled it, citing electoral commission rules that both candidates should receive equal airtime.

A little known digital channel decided to air the debate instead.

Sarkozy, who was accompanied on the campaign trail by the French employment minister, said: “They are together in a grand Paris hotel, but I am here in Valenciennes with Jean-Louis Borloo on the ground.”