The latest polls show an extremely tight contest in France's presidential campaign. Today is the final day of campaigning.
The left-wing newspaper Libération urged readers not to vote for centrist presidential candidate François Bayrou.
It warned that it would be a 'fatal blow' to the left if Ségolène Royal fails to qualify for the second vote.
Polls suggest many traditional left-wing voters may back Mr Bayrou instead of Ms Royal in Sunday's first round vote, if they decide he stands a better chance of beating Nicolas Sarkozy in a run-off.
Despite indications that as many as 40% of voters have not finally made up their minds, all recent surveys indicated that Mr Sarkozy and Ms Royal will contest the second round runoff on 6 May.
But after the shock of the last election in 2002, when veteran far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen knocked out the Socialist Lionel Jospin and came second behind sitting President Jacques Chirac, no-one is ruling out surprises.
Mr Sarkozy said today he was trying to protect his family, after his wife's absence from the campaign in recent weeks fuelled speculation about his personal life.
Mr Le Pen has been stirring rumours about Mr Sarkozy's marriage to Cecilia, a former model who is one of his closest political advisers.
Mr Le Pen has not said what the rumours are, but he told a radio station on Wednesday that 'all of Paris' was talking about them.
The couple's relationship has been in the spotlight before. They separated briefly last year after she had an affair with an advertising executive while Mr Sarkozy dated a journalist.
The two got back together in a blaze of publicity and Cecilia accompanied her husband on a high-profile official visit to Guyana last June when he was the interior minister.
The weekly Marianne had to print a third edition of a special 12-page dossier which portrayed Mr Sarkozy as a future dictator and concluded with the claim that he represents a serious danger to democracy and the French republic.
He is lampooned as a violent hothead in the nightly television programme 'Les Guignols', the French version of the British Spitting Image satire.
The puppet of Mr Sarkozy is seen in sketches throwing tantrums and beating up the presenter.
He is disliked by young people in poor suburbs where he is accused of introducing oppressive police methods and fueling tension that led to riots that spread across France in late 2005.
Polls open tomorrow in France's overseas departments, voters will go to the polls across France on Sunday.
A total of 12 candidates are standing in the first round of voting.
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