Sarkozy: I am no fascist (even if I sound like one)

After a week in which his opponents accused him of everything but eating babies, Nicolas Sarkozy was bound to adopt a gentler tone for his last big election rally in Paris.

Except that he didn't. The centre-right candidate gave a cheering crowd of 20,000 people a piece of vintage "Sarko" - 80 minutes of finger-jabbing indignation against the political system to which he has belonged for 20 years.

True, M. Sarkozy, 52, the centre-right candidate for the presidency, angrily denied that he was a fascist or even a "nationalist". He reminded the crowd that France's greatest, modern political hero, Charles de Gaulle, had also been accused of having fascist, anti- democratic leanings. True, M. Sarkozy promised, if elected, to introduce a small dose of proportional representation into one of the two houses of the French parliament. That is a long-standing demand of supporters of the centrist UDF party who hold the key to Sunday's election.

Otherwise, it was a high-octane performance of controlled populism, touching every button of anger and indignation in a country with as many grumbles as cheeses. M. Sarkozy said that he wanted to be the "spokesman for France".

He wanted to stand up to all those who fleeced the French people, which included "politicians, technocrats, trades unionists and fraudsters". Presumably, M. Sarkozy does not count himself as a politician.

This was the language of the extreme, populist right, in the name - M. Sarkozy insisted - of consensual, pragmatic, liberalising reform. M. Sarkozy may not be a fascist but he is not afraid of sounding like one. This may be the secret of his success but it also explains why a large part of France - and not just on the left - is scared of the prospect, even the probability, of a Sarkozy presidency.

The rally at the Bercy rock and sports venue in eastern Paris began a fascinating final week of the presidential campaign, including a much-awaited televised debate between M. Sarkozy and the Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal on Wednesday night.

Although he has led the opinion polls since mid-January, and although he scored heavily in the first round last week, M. Sarkozy has been thrown onto the defensive in the past few days. Mme Royal has been creeping upwards in the polls. She came within four points of M. Sarkozy in a Sofres survey last night. Reports of a serious, new rift in the Sarkozy marriage still flood the French-language internet, although they have yet to be addressed at length in a mainstream French newspaper or on radio and television.

Worst of all for M. Sarkozy, the overwhelming focus of the first half of the second-round campaign has been the character and personality of the contender.

The former interior minister likes to portray himself as a pragmatic man of action, driven by common sense, traditional morality and results. His opponents - both Mme Royal and the defeated centrist, François Bayrou - have used fair means and foul to paint him as a sinister and dangerous man, who could destroy political liberties and generate violent opposition on the streets and in the poor, multi-racial suburbs.

The most vicious attacks have come from M. Bayrou, who has twice spoken of what he calls M. Sarkozy's "taste for confrontation and menace". Although he has formally refused to back Mme Royal, M. Bayrou has become her de facto ally against M. Sarkozy in the second-round campaign.

On Saturday, the successful Socialist and the defeated centrist held an unprecedented TV debate in a hotel in Paris. They had previously both accused M. Sarkozy - on slender evidence - of colluding with his wealthy friends in the media industry to prevent the meeting from even taking place.

In the event, the debate was friendly and mostly uncontroversial. Mme Royal came over as more relaxed than she has done for weeks, even showing her sense of humour. When a journalist asked if she and M. Bayrou could "live together", she said: "Just because his name is François, you shouldn't exaggerate ..." Her partner, and the father of her four children, is François Hollande, the leader of the Socialist party.

The very fact that Mme Royal was being shown on television smiling and joking with M. Bayrou could give her a significant boost in the next few days. The nearly seven million votes cast for M. Bayrou last Sunday will decide the outcome of the election next weekend. About 40 per cent of them have turned to Mme Royal, according to opinion polls, and about 30 per cent to M. Sarkozy.

Another roughly 30 per cent are undecided or unsure whether they will bother to vote a second time.

In two opinion polls yesterday, M. Sarkozy was shown beating Mme Royal next Sunday by five percentage points - 52.5 per cent to 47.5 per cent. In another poll, by Sofres, his lead was down to four points: 52-48. A week ago, M. Sarkozy led by 8 points.