France election: Nicolas Sarkozy woos far right in National Front heartlands

 

Ahead of Sunday's presidential run-off, French leader Nicolas Sarkozy says Francois Hollande and his Socialist party will bring only financial ruin to the country as he campaigns in the National Front heartlands.

The French President, trailing his Socialist rival in opinion polls, held one of his last major electoral rallies in the southern port city of Toulon, one of the hotbeds of support for the far right National Front that has so far refused to support him in the run-off this weekend.

In a speech filled with references to patriotism and national values designed to woo the hard right, the incumbent president also lashed out at Mr Hollande's economic policies and his promise to put economic growth before austerity.

"They dare to say that they support growth. Theirs is not a programme for growth. It is a programme for recession. It's a programme that will choke it, it's a programme that will deepen the deficits and that will ruin investors' confidence."

Mr Sarkozy told a cheering crowd that there was only "one day left to convince". Not a single poll since the start of the campaign has put the French president ahead.

"There is one day left. One day to convince. One day, I promise you, for the best victory that there can be. The one you will have deserved. The one we have been looking for. The one they refuse to give us and the one that we will have imposed on them. Long live France, long live the Republic."

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