French Voters to Favor Socialist Candidate?

The French presidential campaign is entering its last and definitive leg as French citizens will cast their votes this coming Sunday, April 22 in a first round election that could see a first Socialist president in nearly 20 years. Socialist party candidate Francois Hollande and Conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy are rallying final speeches everywhere before Sunday's vote. Supporters of Hollande like his human values and the fact that he portrays socialist principles like solidarity. At the end of the day, they all believe Hollande is the man to take president Sarkozy out of office. Hollande presided over the socialist party for years, but has never held an important role in the government. Detractors say he is not a particularly charismatic person. He is aware of this, calling himself "just a normal person." Public polls show him going neck to neck vs Sarkozy in the first round of elections and actually winning in a second round. The personality of Sarkozy disturbs many voters who would rather go with Hollande although without a particular reason. The anti-Sarkozy movement seems to be gaining momentum all over France. The election of Sarkozy back in 2007 brought hope to people at first, but was ruined by his difficult personality and contradictory actions. Regardless of the pressure and what polls of voters say, President Sarkozy is not giving up, nor are his supporters, who recently packed Paris's Place de la Concorde. Some of them point out that they like that he is a man of the situation. In regards to the markets, international investors are probably going to be allowed to bet on French sovereign debt in which has been called a "weapon of mass destruction against France" in political circles according to a

report. Many voters' decisions this coming Sunday and in second round in May 6 are being affected by a sense of fear and misunderstanding on this financial instrument, a new futures contract born in Germany, which ultimately would provide for more liquidity to its underlying asset, French national debt. Conspiracy theories have emerged among leftist's candidates whom regard the future contract as a way for Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel to destabilize the economical spectrum in order to press the message that the country needs president Sarkozy's firm, experienced hand. Even favorite socialist candidate Hollande has solicited the German government to withdraw the instrument with financial authorities responding that they don't have the power to interfere in the decisions made by a private, foreign operator to launch a derivative contract. Trashing the market seems to be a safe political move in a country that highly values leftist ideas regardless of political color according to the seattlepi.com report. The debate over the new futures contract brings back memories of what is commonly known about French markets: In one hand, markets are this horrible forces that must be kept at bay. And in the other hand, free markets don't really exist, the state always has a heavy manipulating hand in them.