A Bittersweet Victory for the French Left

Miracles can happen in the second round of a French presidential election and on Sunday's figures Nicolas Sarkozy needs one. The incumbent needed to stay ahead of his socialist challenger in the first round to have a chance of beating him in two weeks. This was because his pool of rightwing votes from the other defeated first-round candidates was always going to be smaller than François Hollande's. Even if Mr Sarkozy had stayed in pole position with around 30% of the vote, it was going to be tough. He would have needed eight out of 10 far-right Marine Le Pen voters and six out of 10 centrist Francois Bayrou voters to turn to him to have a chance of retaining the presidency. A president seeking re-election has never come second in the first round and won.