Left seeks to capture big cities in French election

By Crispian Balmer

PARIS (Reuters) - France goes to the polls for the final round of municipal elections on Sunday, which could leave the left in charge of most major French cities and put pressure on President Nicolas Sarkozy to change his style of government.

In the first round last weekend, opposition leftist parties won 48 percent of the overall vote against 41 percent for the centre-right, making gains in townhalls around the country but failing to impose any shock defeats on Sarkozy and his allies.

Sunday could change that, with the Socialists challenging hard to win control of two big southern cities, Marseille and Toulouse, and fighting to clinch a landslide victory in Paris.

If its southern bastions fall, Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party will be left running just two of France's top 10 cities. If it clings on to them, it will be able to shrug off anticipated losses in a slew of smaller towns.

"We are going to win back 30 medium-sized towns, but if we don't get Toulouse and Marseille people will say it isn't a great result," said Socialist party leader Francois Hollande.

The election has come at a bad moment for Sarkozy, whose own ratings have plunged in recent opinion polls because of voter anger over the high cost of living and his personal life, which saw him get divorced and remarried in just four months.

Chastened by the surveys, Sarkozy has played little role in campaigning and although many of the election issues are local, the result is likely to have a national impact, forcing a change in the tone if not the substance of his restless presidency.

"Once the definitive results are in after the second round, all political leaders, myself first of all, will have to draw the lessons from the election," said Sarkozy, who has lost his aura of self-confidence after just 10 months in office.