Under pressure to respond to the 18 per cent of voters who backed National Front candidate Marine Le Pen in Sunday's first round, Mr Hollande also stipulated that he would uphold and enforce a ban on the full Islamic veil, despite the fact he abstained in a Right-wing-led parliamentary vote in 2010.
"In a period of crisis in which we find ourselves, limiting economic immigration is necessary and essential," said the centre-Left candidate who two polls released yesterday suggest will beat his conservative rival Nicolas Sarkozy in the May 6 run-off by between eight and nine percentage points.
The figures suggest Mr Sarkozy's lurch to the hard Right on immigration and security has so far done little to boost his uphill re-election bid with eight days to go. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Friday, April 27, 2012
