PARIS • French presidential contender Segolene Royal will hold a TV debate with defeated centrist candidate Francois Bayrou, her aides said yesterday, in a bold bid to broaden her alliance ahead of a run-off vote on May 6.
Royal and her rightwing rival in the second round duel, Nicolas Sarkozy, are both courting the 7 million French voters who backed Bayrou in a first round election on Sunday.
Royal has said she wants a debate with Bayrou to assess possible points of convergence, angering some of the Socialist’s traditional far-left allies who suspect she wants to shunt the party towards the political centre to win power.
“There’s an agreement with the TV stations and the centrist candidate,” Royal’s adviser Jean-Louis Bianco said, adding the two would face each other on Saturday at 11 a.m. (0900 GMT).
Sarkozy won 31.2 per cent of the vote on Sunday, Royal 25.9 per cent and Bayrou 18.6 per cent. Opinion polls say the former interior minister should beat Royal in the run-off vote, putting the onus firmly on the Socialist candidate to take risks to try to overhaul her rival.
Political analysts say holding a television debate with Bayrou could backfire because her message could become diluted and she could antagonise her hardcore supporters. But if she succeeds in winning over Bayrou, she could clinch vital extra votes.
Bayrou has refused to endorse either presidential candidate, but has reserved particularly harsh words for Sarkozy and French media said he seemed to be leaning towards Royal.
“Bayrou won’t vote for Sarkozy”, le Parisien daily said.
Small leftist parties whose presidential candidates were eliminated in the first round have urged their supporters to vote for Royal on May 6, but they said her cultivation of the centrists could alienate some voters.
“If it’s her objective to beat Nicolas Sarkozy, it’s totally contradictory to go looking for the votes of all of the left, while at the same time preparing the base for a political alliance with Bayrou,” a small communist party said.
Royal has based her campaign on left-wing economic policies and conservative social values, criticising high banking fees and excessive executive pay, but also raising eyebrows with a plan to send young troublemakers to military boot camps.
