Current president of France Nicholas Sarkozy may end up winning over a few votes with this outreach, but it probably won't be enough. The far right is already fed up with him and the leader of the National Front is telling supporters to submit a blank vote in protest. (The practice of submitting a blank vote happens often enough in France though it still remains in single digits.) Tonight is the big debate between Sarkozy and the challenger François Hollande but few expect the debate to change any opinions. More on the far right outreach by The Guardian:
Sarkozy's alternative May day Labour rally, which he initially said was a defiant celebration of "real" work versus the traditional trade union marches, had caused a political slanging match in France. A Communist newspaper and various commentators likened the president to Marshal Pétain, the leader of France's Nazi collaborationist Vichy regime in the 1940s, for trying to appropriate the "values of work" for the right. His party slammed the parallels as shameful and disgusting. Sarkozy told the crowd: "We don't want Socialism!" He stressed the importance of loving France, the value of work, and promised a new French social model with fewer rules and red tape. He said France must defend "values, identity and the frontiers that protect us", adding: "Do you think China doesn't defend its identity?"
