Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Marine Le Pen might defeat President Nicolas Sarkozy if a French election were held now, a poll showed.
Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund and a Socialist Party member, would win 33 per cent in the first round, according to the Ipsos-LogicaBusiness Consulting poll for Le Monde and Europe 1 radio. Le Pen, leader of the National Front party, would win 19 per cent and Sarkozy would get 18 per cent, Ipsos-Logica said.
The figures underline Sarkozy’s unpopularity. Two previous polls showed Le Pen leading in the first round of the two-round election that is scheduled for April and May of 2012.
If the Socialists selected either Martine Aubry or Francois Holland as their candidate, they would have a smaller lead in the first round with 23 per cent support and Sarkozy would get into the second round with 21 per cent.
Ipsos-LogicaBusiness surveyed 948 French adults by telephone March 14. No margin of error was published.