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Sarkozy, Royal Head into Final Weekend of Vote

French voters will elect their new president this Sunday, in a runoff between the two winners of the first round, conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and socialist Segolene Royal.

Royal, who trailed Sarkozy after the first round by 2 million votes and has consistently trailed in the polls, has spent the past two weeks trying to make up the deficit. She has been daring and aggressive in her public speeches; she has also gone negative. Many French people say they are uncomfortable with Sarkozy, and Royal has clearly played to that.

As French voters prepare to vote in two days, the major polling institutes are predicting a big win for Sarkozy. Campaigning stops at midnight Friday night.

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Eleanor Beardsley began reporting from France for NPR in 2004 as a freelance journalist, following all aspects of French society, politics, economics, culture and gastronomy. Since then, she has steadily worked her way to becoming an integral part of the NPR Europe reporting team.