Burning in halal: Presidential candidates fight over symbols as ailing France grinds to a halt — RT

14.4.12

Burning in halal: Presidential candidates fight over symbols as ailing France grinds to a halt — RT: Christians unknowingly eating halal meat, 100 per cent taxes on the rich, Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni pretending to be a down-to-earth couple – the French election campaign has turned into a parade of faintly ridiculous controversies.

�But the problems France faces are anything but a joke.

Incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy and social-democrat rival Francois Hollande are neck and neck ahead of the first round of the vote on April 22, both polling at around 30 percent. For months already, both have been nearly guaranteed passage to the second round runoff of the election – ever since Hollande’s chief rival Dominique Strauss-Kahn dropped out of the race after a string of sex scandals.

Normally, by this stage candidates fight over undecided voters on central ground. Politicians are also expected to show off their statesman-like side – making it easier for the electorate to picture them as the president of a major power strutting the world stage.