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Le Debate: French Prez Race Heats Up

Both French presidential candidates' camps proclaimed victory on Thursday after a fiery, combative TV debate that was the only face-to-face encounter between conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royal in the run-up to Sunday's vote.

A survey Thursday showed the conservative Sarkozy in the lead over the Socialist Royal with just three days to go until the election.

The debate drew more than 20 million viewers, showing how impassioned France's 44.5 million registered voters are about this election, with candidates offering strikingly different visions for the country's future.

Sarkozy, the more pro-market candidate, has been ahead in polls for months. Wednesday's prime time TV debate was Socialist Royal's last big chance to win over the centrist voters on whom the election hinges, seeking to convince them that her recipe for France's problems — more state aid and social protections — is the right course.

Royal went on the offensive, criticizing Sarkozy's record as former interior minister, repeatedly interrupting him and revealing a rarely-seen side of a candidate known for smiles and optimism.

She got furious when he started talking about handicapped children, saying he was "playing" with the issue. "I am very angry," said Royal.

Sarkozy grew testy: "Calm down, don't point at me with your finger like that."

"No, I won't calm down, I won't calm down," Royal said.

"To be president you have to be calm," said Sarkozy.

"Not when there is injustice. There is anger that is perfectly healthy because it relates to the suffering of people."

"Will you let me speak?"

"Even when I'm president of the Republic …" Royal said.

"That will be a happy thing," deadpanned Sarkozy.

"Because I know the effort that families and schools go through in order to welcome these children who no longer are welcomed. On this point I won't let the immorality of politics take over."

"I don't know why Madame Royal, who is usually calm, has lost her cool," said Sarkozy.

"I have not lost my cool, I'm angry. It's not the same, don't be contemptuous, Mr. Sarkozy, don't be contemptuous. I have not lost my cool, I'm angry. There is anger that is perfectly healthy and very useful."

"I wonder what it's like when you do lose your cool," said Sarkozy.

"I never lose my cool," Royal said. "I have a lot of cool."

"Well, if you say so, but you just lost it."

A former interior minister, Sarkozy said on Thursday he thought the debate was dignified, though he found Royal somewhat combative.

"I was a bit astonished at times by a certain aggressiveness in Madame Royal," he said in an interview on France's RTL radio.

"It can happen to anybody to lose their cool. Let's not be cross with her. It was no doubt the stress," he added.

Royal, a former environment minister, defended her tough style, telling France-Inter radio, "You can never go too much on the offensive when it comes to defending convictions and values."

During their bitter election campaign, Sarkozy's camp has said that Royal's ideas are fuzzy and that she does not have the experience to lead France.

Meanwhile, the Socialist has sought to portray her conservative rival as too unstable and too brutal to lead the nuclear-armed nation.

In an effort to attract the centrist voters who supported Francois Bayrou in the first round, Royal claimed she had risen above the divisions of party politics.

"I am now above and beyond political parties. Among those who have joined me, there are also voters neither coming from the left nor from the right, but who want to choose the humanist values that I'm offering."

Meanwhile in Paris, voters reacted to the debate, with some praising Royal's performance, admiring her conviction, passion and fighting spirit.

"I found it extraordinary. I found that it was like we were witnessing the birth of something extraordinary — the reawakening of politics. She's a very good woman, Segolene Royal," said local Michelle Pelletier.

"I thought that Segolene Royal performed very well. As for Sarkozy, he was true to himself — arrogant and pretentious," resident Wally Lefky said.

Others felt she went too far.

"I didn't like Segolene's fit of anger," said Caroline Leva, a 48-year-old Sarkozy supporter. "One doesn't do that, and Mr. Sarkozy didn't say anything at all to warrant this type of anger."

Bruno Mees, a 61-year-old who voted Bayrou last month, said he remained undecided between the remaining candidates.

"Sarkozy was a bit macho, and when he said 'you're losing your cool,' it wasn't very elegant," Mees said.

Royal, meanwhile, was "very much on the left yesterday, in her discourse and her formulas," Mees said. "I don't think she'll attract many centrist voters like that."

One big point of contention in the debate was France's 35-hour work week — a landmark reform for Socialists, but decried by business leaders as a crippling brake on companies.

Sarkozy wants to get around the 35-hour week by making overtime tax-free to encourage people to work more. He described the shortened work week as a "monumental error." Royal defended it as a form of social progress.

The two candidates also disagreed on whether Turkey should join the European Union — Sarkozy says no, while Royal is more open to the idea, saying she wants a referendum.

In his interview with RTL Sarkozy said that the debate would not change the views of voters. One Parisian voter echoed this, even though he thought Royal won the debate.

"It hasn't changed my vote. I'm a Right voter so I'm going to vote Sarkozy without any hesitation. However I found that she won the debate, that she was better during the exercise — more convincing, more penetrating — while he waffled. I thought she won," Renaud Baguenault said.

Centrist leader Bayrou, who finished a strong third place in the first round of voting April 22 and whose nearly 7 million middle-ground voters are crucial to Sunday's outcome, said after the debate that he wouldn't vote for Sarkozy.

"There's a risk he will worsen the rifts in society," Bayrou said, according to Le Monde.

Bayrou did not say whether he would vote for Royal or abstain in the runoff, but said Royal did "pretty well" in the debate. Bayrou's voters are split between the two candidates, and not all are likely to follow his example.

A poll published Thursday by Opinionway said 53 percent of those surveyed found Sarkozy the most convincing, while 31 percent preferred Royal. It suggested the debate only slightly impacted voters' opinions.

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