Hollande enjoys upper hand in French elections

Francois Hollande charged back into campaign mode on Monday today with momentum on his side to capture France's presidency, after the Socialist won the most votes in the first round of voting that put him into a runoff with conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.

However, in the ballot's biggest surprise, nearly one in five voters chose far right candidate Marine Le Pen and they may hold the key to victory in the decisive vote on May 6.

If Hollande wins the second round, he would become the first Socialist president since 1995. His election could also alter Europe's political and economic landscape at a time when the continent is seeking a clear direction to overcome its calamitous debt crisis.

Polls taken Sunday night continued to show Hollande is likely to best Sarkozy in their head-to-head matchup two weeks from now by around 10 percentage points in line with the trend of most polls for months.

Both Hollande and Sarkozy resumed campaigning today after a two-day pause to comply with election regulations that forbid campaigning from midnight Friday until 8 pm Sunday.

Sarkozy was headed to Tours in the Loire valley, while Hollande travelled to Quimper and Lorient in far-western Brittany. Today Sarkozy suggested he'd be tacking at least somewhat to the right for the second round, in a bid to attract disgruntled National Front voters.

"National Front voters must be respected, they've expressed a choice. It's a vote of suffering, a vote of crisis. Why insult them?" Sarkozy said to reporters outside his Paris campaign headquarters. "I say to them, I've heard you. I'll draw all the consequences," Sarkozy said.

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Hollande enjoys upper hand in French elections

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