By John Lichfield President Nicolas Sarkozy looks certain to win a crushing parliamentary majority after utterly dominating the first round of the French legislative elections.

By John Lichfield Better, much better, but probably too late. France's would-be first woman president, Segolene Royal, impressed many viewers with a feisty and eloquent performance in a televised debate watched by 20 million people on Wednesday night.

An alliance between the second- and third-ranking presidential candidates in France was ruled out in a Paris debate Saturday.

By John Lichfield Never has a defeated candidate looked so happy or known himself to be so important.

The latest poll shows a tight race for the French presidency. With two weeks until the May 5 run-off, the poll for France's Le Figaro newspaper showed right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy is favored by 51 percent to 49 percent for socialist Segolene Royal, The London Telegraph said Wednesday.