French election countdown

Although François Hollande leads comfortably in the polls, Le Parisien reports that his rival Nicolas Sarkozy has narrowed the gap to five percentage points.

But good news has come for Hollande in the eleventh hour, in the form of centrist leader Francois Bayrou. Having obtained 9% of the first round vote, he announced on Thursday night that he would vote for Hollande. For Le Parisien and others, this is big news. 

It's the first time a centrist party has supported a party of the left. Libération asks whether Bayrou's move is a "centrist revolution." Bayrou says he is dismayed to see Sarkozy court the far-right, with rather too hard a line on immigration and border security. 

But Bayrou did not go so far as to call on supporters to endorse the Socialists, prompting some to suggest that he is trying to keep his options open. 

Finally, just when you thought the Dominique Strauss-Kahn saga was done or dormant, new legal worries threaten to perturb his temporary tranquillity.  Libération reports that the judges investigating allegations that he was involved in a prostitution ring, will now look into the possibility of indicting him for rape too.