France's presidential candidates have started their final day of campaigning ahead of Sunday's vote.

The latest opinion polls suggest that conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has a firm lead over Socialist Segolene Royal after Wednesday's TV debate.

A new Ifop poll for the Le Monde newspaper put Mr Sarkozy at 53%, with Ms Royal trailing with 47%.

Ms Royal is campaigning Brittany, in the west, while Mr Sarkozy will be at a war memorial in the Alpine region.

The campaigns end on Friday as voting in some overseas French regions takes place on Saturday.

The latest Ifop poll was conducted on 3 May among 858 people who had watched the often fiery televised debate.

It found that the two candidates' scores were unchanged from the polling company's previous survey before the debate.

Another poll by TNS Sofres for the Le Figaro daily showed Mr Sarkozy nine percentage points ahead of Ms Royal, with 54.5% and 45.5% respectively, up 2.5 points on a previous poll by the same pollster.

The BBC's Caroline Wyatt, in Montpellier, says most French voters have now made up their minds with only 10% still undecided.

She says that although Mr Sarkozy may be a deeply divisive figure, few doubt his competence or ability to get things done.

Segolene Royal has fought hard over the past few days to make up lost ground, our correspondent says, but faced with a choice between left and right, most are planning to choose the path of reform laid out by Mr Sarkozy.

'Betrayal'

The final day of campaigning is expected to be low-key.

Ms Royal will be hoping to win over any floating voters with two open-air rallies in Brittany.

Mr Sarkozy travels to the Alps to attend a ceremony paying respect the resistance fighters of World War II.

Both candidates held their final big rallies on Thursday, Ms Royal in Lille in the north and Mr Sarkozy at the other end of the country in Montpellier.

Mr Sarkozy returned to his theme of the "betrayal" of France by socialists inspired by the 1968 student protests.

"We have two days left to say goodbye to the heritage of '68," Mr Sarkozy said.

He promised to unify the nation, re-invigorate the economy and restore full employment.

Mr Sarkozy, 52, also addressed his most controversial previous statements, saying he did not regret using the word "rabble" to describe delinquents from Paris' poorest suburbs, nor did he regret speaking about cleaning housing estates "with a pressure hose".

Ms Royal, 53, called for a French rebirth, saying she offered a safe choice for those wanting "a protecting France, a fraternal France, a competitive France".

She urged voters to make the "audacious choice" to elect her France's first woman president.

"We do not want to appeal to people's dark side, but to the light and hope inside them," she said.

Bayrou's vow

The sometimes ill-tempered TV debate on Wednesday, watched by an estimated 23m people, left both claiming victory.

The rivals clashed over employment, the economy and law and order.

Opinion polls showed the debate had not reversed Mr Sarkozy's momentum.

Mr Sarkozy said Ms Royal had tried "to be pugnacious but at times she was too aggressive".

Ms Royal said: "You can never go too much on the offensive when it comes to defending convictions and values."

Ms Royal did get a boost from centrist Francois Bayrou, who was defeated in the first round of the election.

Mr Bayrou, who has been strongly critical of Mr Sarkozy, said in an interview with Le Monde newspaper: "I will not vote for Sarkozy."

Mr Sarkozy won 31.2% of the votes and Ms Royal won 25.9% in the first round of the election on 22 April.

Photo caption

Nicolas Sarkozy