Nicolas Sarkozy mounted a defiant show of force in Paris yesterday, wresting the spotlight from traditional trade union May Day marches and vowing to fight to the last against Fran?ois Hollande, his socialist challenger in Sunday’s presidential election.
In an impassioned address to tens of thousands of his conservative supporters, against a backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, Mr Sarkozy implored the crowd to use the last three days of campaigning to “explain, convince and mobilise” voters behind his re-election.
Invoking French heroes from Napoleon Bonaparte to Charles de Gaulle, he said he would battle “until the last second of the last minute” to beat Mr Hollande, who has led him in the polls for months.