France set for decisive poll

Right and ultra-right face off in the French poll

Sunday sees one of the most divisive elections in France's history as voters choose between the incumbent president, Jacques Chirac, and his far-right challenger Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Opinion polls have been predicting a landslide majority for the conservative Mr Chirac, with traditional voters of the left reluctantly preparing to back him to register their opposition to Mr Le Pen.

I probably wouldn't vote for Chirac were he facing anyone else but I know I have to

Fabrice Dupont
French voter

The electoral authorities have warned that any voters publicly displaying disgust by donning rubber gloves or holding their noses could infringe rules against canvassing in the polling-stations.

Mr Le Pen has said publicly that if he wins less than 30% of the vote he will regard it as a personal failure and has already made accusations of electoral fraud.

A late opinion poll suggested Mr Chirac could win up to 82% of the vote.

The anti-Le Pen camp hopes for a high turn-out

Newspapers of the mainstream right have been using their final pre-poll editions to urge a decisive turnout to deliver victory to Mr Chirac, while the leftist press warned abstentions by their readers would be like voting for Mr Le Pen.

One left-leaning voter, 32-year-old builder Fabrice Dupont, said he had no choice but to vote for Mr Chirac now, but the summer parliamentary election would be a different story.

"This is unlike any other election, because for most of us there's no choice," he said.

"I probably wouldn't vote for Chirac were he facing anyone else but I know I have to. Hopefully at the legislative election people will have a real choice."

First results are expected to appear at 2000 local time (1800 GMT) on Sunday after voting ends.

Last words

Mr Chirac wrapped up his campaigning on Friday by saying he considered himself a personal enemy of Mr Le Pen's National Front, whose leaders had put themselves "outside the rules of democracy".

	Jacques Chirac Born in 1932 in Paris Set up RPR in 1976 Mainstream conservative, former PM (1974-76, 1986-88), mayor of Paris (1977-95), and president (1995- ) Tax cuts, EU integration Jean-Marie Le Pen Born in 1928 in Brittany Set up National Front in 1972 Ultra-rightwing nationalist, never held government office Anti-immigration, abolition of income tax, withdrawal from EU and euro  Click here for where they stand

On Saturday, Mr Le Pen was still giving interviews, this time to the foreign media, telling Israeli TV that French Jews had nothing to fear from his election.

The National Front leader once referred to the Nazi genocide of the Jews as a "detail of history".

But he assured Israelis that he had condemned recent anti-Semitic violence in France and said he would be happy to visit Israel.

In an interview with the BBC, he appeared less than confident of victory, saying he faced a "massive, heterogeneous, cosmopolitan barrage".

"I don't know (if I can win)," he said. "I hope so."

Earlier, Mr Le Pen accused election authorities of refusing to distribute ballots bearing his name and he also said his ballots were printed on darker paper than Chirac ballots - a subliminal way of buoying up the Chirac vote.

Footballers join fray

France's national football team made a last-minute entry into the fray by releasing a statement on Friday hitting out against attitudes which they said were dangerous for democracy and freedom.

Le Pen: Alleges huge fraud

Captain Marcel Desailly said the players - different in origins, perceptions and personal commitments - were unanimous in condemning resurgent notions of exclusion and racism.

The statement did not mention by name Mr Le Pen, who has previously criticised the make-up of the team - which contains many players of African and Arab origin - by saying it was artificial to call them the French side.

"Most French players don't even know, or don't want to sing" the French national anthem, he alleged in 1996.

Since Mr Le Pen's stunning qualification in the first round of voting on 21 April, there has been a wave of protests against him across the country and the French left has rallied behind Mr Chirac after Mr Le Pen pushed socialist candidate Lionel Jospin into third place and out of the runoff.