French presidential race hots up
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The race for the French presidency will move up a gear this week with the official investiture of Segolene Royal as the Socialist Party's (PS) candidate and with Nicolas Sarkozy throwing his hat into the ring for the right-wing UMP party's nomination.
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Francois Bayrou, leader of the centrist Union for French Democracy (UDF), was confirmed as a serious challenger in France's presidential election campaign Monday, as two new opinion polls showed a big rise in his vote.
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The poll promises to be the main event in the 2005 political calendar in France and pollsters say Jacques Chirac, the president, has little chance of winning it without socialist support.
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Lobbying for the International Monetary Fund's top job intensifies as France seeks support for its candidate.
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French socialist Segolene Royal officially entered the race to be the country's next president, announcing that she is a candidate for her party's nomination.
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French voters are electing a new parliament, with President Sarkozy's UMP party expected to make gains.
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Nicolas Sarkozy, France's centre-right interior minister, has formally announced his bid for the French presidency in a 2007 race likely to pit him against Socialist candidate Segolene Royal.Comment
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BBC Europe editor Mark Mardell on the battle of the blogosphere under way in France three months ahead of the presidential election.
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Two rivals emerge to challenge favourite Segolene Royal for nomination as the French Socialists' presidential candidate.
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Â· French president headed for showdown in Brussels  Â· He will demand greater political control over euro
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Segolene Royal, the frontrunner in polls to become the next president of France, kicked the campaign against her main rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, into high gear.
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France's president is heading for a showdown with European finance ministers over the French economy.
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France votes in the first round of  parliamentary elections on Sunday with President Nicolas  Sarkozy&#39;s party expected to strengthen its hold on power,  clearing the way for him to push ahead with reforms.
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Voting got under way on Saturday in some overseas French territories in the decisive round of parliamentary elections which are expected to hand President Nicolas Sarkozy a huge majority for his reform plans.
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President Nicolas Sarkozy appears to have won a mandate for change after his party swept first-round parliamentary elections, and he is picking up speed in his plans to overhaul France's welfare state. But rivals say he should watch out.
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Voting began in the first round of  France&#39;s legislative election on Sunday with President Nicolas  Sarkozy&#39;s conservative UMP party expected to strengthen its  hold on power.
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The conservative French President reaches across party lines in filling a key foreign-affairs post