(15 May 2012) On May 6th French socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande cast his vote in the town of Tulle, where he was once mayor.
Hollande is expected to defeat incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy by capitalising on public anger over the government's austerity policies.
Under Sarkozy, France pledged to rein in its spending while the rest of 17 countries that use the euro embark on a strict period of belt-tightening.
Hollande has promised more government spending and higher taxes - including a 75-percent income tax on the rich - and wants to re-negotiate a European treaty on trimming budgets to avoid more debt crises of the kind facing Greece.
A recent poll by the BVA agency showed 52.5 percent support for Hollande and 47.5 percent for Sarkozy.
Also on May 6th incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy arrived at a Paris polling station to cast his vote in the country's presidential run-off.
He was accompanied by his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
CAMPAIGN POOL
1. Mid of French president Nicolas Sarkozy arriving at polling station in Paris and greeting crowds outside with wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
AP TELEVISION
2. Wide of Sarkozy and Bruni in crowd of people outside polling station
CAMPAIGN POOL
3. Mid of Sarkozy and Bruni-Sarkozy waving to crowd and then ascending stairs into polling station
4. Mid of Sarkozy and Bruni-Sarkozy entering room and shaking hands with supporters
5. Mid of Sarkozy and Bruni-Sarkozy receiving voting papers from officials
STORYLINE
Incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy arrived at a Paris polling station on Sunday to cast his vote in the country''''''''s presidential run-off.
He was accompanied by his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Socialist candidate Francois Hollande is expected to defeat Sarkozy by capitalising on public anger over the government''''''''s austerity policies.
Under Sarkozy, France pledged to rein in its spending while the rest of 17 countries that use the euro embark on a strict period of belt-tightening.
Hollande has promised more government spending and higher taxes - including a 75-percent income tax on the rich - and wants to re-negotiate a European treaty on trimming budgets to avoid more debt crises of the kind facing Greece.
A recent poll by the BVA agency showed 52.5 percent support for Hollande and 47.5 percent for Sarkozy.
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Who will be France''s next First Lady?
If the current polls hold true, it will be Valerie Trierweiler, companion of Socialist candidate and frontrunner Francois Hollande.
Or it might still be Carla Bruni, wife of incumbent president and conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy?
The discrete 47-years-old Valerie Trierweiler is not well known to the French.
She has three teenage boys from a previous marriage and has divorced twice.
Trierweiler met Francois Hollande in the late 80s when she started covering the Socialist party as a journalist.
The two fell in love in 2005, but at that time Francois Hollande was still with his long-time partner Segolene Royal, with whom he has four children.
Hollande and Royal officially broke up after the regional elections in 2007, but Hollande only made official his relationship with Valerie Trierweiler three years later.
He then presented her as "the woman of his life" during an interview he gave to Constance Vergara for Gala, a French gossip magazine in 2010.
Constance Vergara, a journalist who worked for Paris-Match, Gala and some other publications, is the author of a book on French first ladies ("Valerie, Carla, Cecilia, Bernadette and the others during election campaign").
She says that the two know each other very well and have a strong complicity.
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