Bayrou the contender

March 15, 2007

Francois Bayrou has made remarkable progress in France's presidential contest, shattering the received wisdom it would be a two-horse race between Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and the opposition Socialist Party's Segolene Royal. The latest opinion poll may have seen Royal retake second place from the centrist Bayrou but only by the slimmest of margins. Several polls suggest he could defeat either rival should he make it to the second round runoff. A voiced report on the Bayrou phenomenon.