Top French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, citing democracy but likely thinking politics, made a pitch to ensure that extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has enough endorsements to run in spring elections.
The conservative Sarkozy, France's interior minister and leader in polls, asked mayors and other elected officials on Monday to give their backing to Le Pen and other candidates lacking the required 500 endorsements to run.
His plea for goodwill in the name of democracy followed a similar call earlier in the day from Sarkozy's party, the governing Union for a Popular Movement, known as the UMP.
Time is pressing and non-mainstream candidates like Le Pen -- who stunned France by making it to the runoffs in the 2002 vote against incumbent President Jacques Chirac -- are voicing fears almost daily that they may not be able to run.
To be a candidate in the two-round vote next month and in May, hopefuls must submit 500 signatures from elected officials in 30 regions by March 16. Le Pen, head of the anti-immigration National Front party, said last week that he was still short by 100.
"I combat the ideas of Mr. Le Pen, but I'll fight so that [extreme-left candidate] Mr. Besancenot, like Mr. Le Pen, can defend them," Sarkozy said on France-3 television. "Democracy must not be confiscated by just a few people."
Le Pen and Besancenot are among a half-dozen potential candidates who risk not appearing on the April 22 first-round ballot.
The latest polls show Le Pen, who at 77 hopes to run for president for a fifth time, with 12 percent to 14 percent of a first-round vote.
Mayors of small towns and villages, saying they have been literally harassed for endorsement signatures from the myriad candidates, have been reluctant to sign on to anyone. Some cite fear of a backlash from their constituents should they help a candidate like Le Pen who has been convicted of racism and anti-Semitism.
"I cannot affirm I will be a candidate," Le Pen said Monday. "Everything depends on the mayors and their courage."
Earlier, UMP spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse, said it is a "democratic necessity" to endorse candidates who are not in the mainstream but have a real following.
"All these candidates who represent a true political family should have the possibility to be present" in the race, she said.
UMP officials suggested that local and regional officials who are not cardholders of any party help them out.
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