French pause ahead of first round

Candidates appealed to patriotism in their final campaign bids

France has suspended campaigning for a day of reflection before Sunday's presidential election first round.

After one of the most hard-fought campaigns France has seen, more than one-third of voters remain undecided.

A ban on opinion polls and campaigning is now in force, with voters given a day to consider their options.

The leading candidates are centre-right Nicolas Sarkozy, socialist Segolene Royal, centrist Francois Bayrou and far-right leader Jean-Marie le Pen.

Early voting began in the French overseas territories of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, in the North Atlantic ocean.

The islands are France's smallest overseas territories, with some 5,000 voters.

In mainland France, ballots are due to open at 0800 (0600 GMT) on Sunday, closing 12 hours later.

The second round of voting will take place on 6 May.

Final appeals

The BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris says that in their final rallies the candidates tried to outflank each other in their appeals to patriotism and promises to tackle France's economic problems.

Mr Sarkozy ended his campaign in flamboyant style, our correspondent says, filmed astride a white horse at a bull farm in southern France, in a rugged appeal to the farming vote.

Ms Royal continued her informal style with a Socialist picnic near the city of Poitiers, while Mr Bayrou focused on the crucial working-class vote in the north.

I cannot find any candidate that truly represents my views Muriel Calvez, 19 French voters' views

But Sarko and Sego, as the two main candidates have become known, have proven deeply divisive figures, giving Mr Bayrou a broad appeal that has made the outcome impossible to predict, our correspondent says.

New voters

Mr Le Pen came a surprise second in the 2002 election, beating the socialist candidate to reach the run-off second round, where he was defeated by Jacques Chirac.

This time, there are more than one million newly registered voters, the biggest increase in 25 years. Many of them are young people or French citizens living abroad, whose voting intentions are hard to gauge.

Ms Royal has promised to build a "fairer and stronger" France Europe Diary: A useful vote

Another novelty is the use of electronic voting machines in some districts, criticised by the socialists and some other opposition parties as dangerously unreliable. They will be used by 1.5 million voters.

Ms Royal hopes to become France's first woman president, but left-wing voters are among the most volatile, surveys suggest. She has several rivals on the left who could undermine her support.

Whoever wins, says the BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus, it will mark a change of political generation and perhaps a shift in French international priorities, making this election matter even to those outside France.