Paris hosts dueling rallies between leading presidential candidates

PanARMENIAN.Net - France's two leading presidential candidates are holding dueling rallies in the capital a week before the country heads into the voting booth, The Associated Press reported.

Polls show conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Socialist challenger, Francois Hollande, are neck-in-neck for the first round on April 22. Most polls have Hollande ahead in May 6 decisive runoff.

Tens of thousands of supporters gathered at opposite ends of Paris, with those for Sarkozy at the iconic Place de la Concorde in Paris' posh west side. Hollande's followers rallied in the Bois de Vincennes, just outside the city's more working-class east.

Both candidates have been encouraging voters not to wait for round two to come out in support of them, and are using Sunday April 15 rallies to build momentum.