French President Nicolas Sarkozy hunted for far-right votes Monday after losing to Socialist Francois Hollande in a first round vote that saw a shock breakthrough by the anti-immigrant National Front.
The right-wing incumbent moved quickly to woo the 18 per cent of voters who backed the National Front’s Marine Le Pen, saying they deserved an answer to their concerns, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel called her showing “alarming”.
Mr Hollande and Mr Sarkozy will face each other in a runoff on May 6 after Sunday’s first round saw the Socialist beat the incumbent by a vote of 28.63 to 27.18 per cent, according to final official results.
Mr Hollande’s victory cemented his position as the clear leader in the race, dealing a blow to Mr Sarkozy’s hopes of gaining enough momentum from a first-round win to defy expectations and return to office.
But it was the showing of Ms Le Pen that shook up the race, setting up her National Front voters as potential kingmakers.
Ms Le Pen score on Sunday was nearly double the 10.4 per cent her father Jean-Marie took as Front National candidate in the 2007 first round.