21April
Mme. Royal pledged to stop the culture of excessive personal spending that's grown up at the Elysée over the past dozen years, including €60 per day on herbal teas. M. Sarkozy took time off from polishing his claws to say that it was a good sign that people were afraid of him. It's not entirely clear how this will play with the inhabitants of room 223.
More publications have published their preferred candidates: the Universal Daily Registertab and Torygraph prefer M. Popup. The Arab world is backing neither him nor Mme. Royal. Indeed, most publications are preferring their most obvious candidate.
But with almost 45% of voters saying that they hadn't made up their mind before the final week of the campaign, any two from the top three looked possible. Nothing much happened in the last couple of days of the campaign, and the day before polling is always free of rallies and speeches. All we can do now is wait, watch the waves crash against the sea wall, and the little planks of wood bob up and down, and try to play chess with the returning officer. Even if he keeps beating us while pretending to read the newspaper.
Such is the impatience that some have been trying France Profane's links to online candidate choosers. We found Quel Candidat to be reasonably simple, with questions as follows:
Stage 1: Turkey join the EU; Proportional representation for legislative elections; which layer of government to ditch; President cannot be re-elected.
Stage 2: 35-hour week (keep, reform, ditch, reduce). A global income tax cut. Get rid of strict school catchment areas. Nuclear power. Carbon tax. (Here: Pour = for, Contre = against)
Stage 3: What's responsible for violence (precarious life, immigration, politicians, police, education). What would solve the problem (zero tolerance, regularisation of illegal immigrants, better immigration control, the status quo). Could the police do more. Should other religions celebrate their days. What's to be done about unemployment (reduce hours of work, reduce tax, better regulation, less immigration, higher salaries).
Stage 4: Homosexual marriage. Death penalty. Cannabis. Biggest problem (global warming, terrorism, unemployment, education, health). Retaining subsidies on agriculture.
Stage 5 is questions that are about the person, not politics, but have been referenced by some candidates: How long do you spend on the internet per day. Which film would you see. What music do you listen to. Which television show would you watch. Did Zidane have a reason to head-butt Materazzi? What quality do you admire in others.
Only in France could the election be decided by people's opinions on whether Star Ac
is any good! Anyway, we got Dominique Voynet, at a 48% match: 
. Besancenot and Royal had 40%, Buffet 36%, Bayrou 32%, the next three 24%. So, it's the green candidate for us.
Will she make it into the next round? That's a very hollow laugh from the tower... Okay, okay. Which two candidates will progress into the next round? We will post an almost-live soundfile available as soon as we can after 7pm on Sunday. BBC Radio 4 won't have a programme until two minutes past eight, though France 2's coverage will go out on TV5 from 6.30, and on BBC Parliament from 6.59pm.
