French presidential rivals Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal sent out more feelers to defeated centrist candidate Francois Bayrou on Tuesday, though both camps ruled out electoral deals ahead of the decisive second round vote.
With Bayrou's 6.8 million voters from Sunday's multi-candidate round seen as the key to ultimate victory, the rightwing Sarkozy and the socialist Royal need urgently to expand their base into the political middle ground.
Both were eagerly awaiting Bayrou's press conference on Wednesday in which he was to explain his position ahead of the May 6 run-off, though most commentators said he was unlikely to make an endorsement for either side.
Campaigning on a promise to bridge the left-right divide, Bayrou came in third Sunday with a 18.57 percent of the vote, and there is now feverish speculation about how his electorate will divide up in round two.
Speaking at a rally in the eastern city of Dijon late Monday, Sarkozy appealed to those "who voted for other candidates in the first round and to men and women of good will" to join his right-wing camp.
"They have their place (there) once they too share the values of national identity, of work, of merit, of public-spiritedness, of justice," he said.
However Sarkozy -- who leads Royal in the opinion polls -- also ruled out any talk of "bargaining" with Bayrou or his small Union for a French democracy (UDF) party to secure centrist votes.
"I will not seal any alliance at the cost of my convictions. I will not build a union of parties by sacrificing my sincerity," he said.
Meanwhile Royal, the Socialist who would be France's first woman president, offered Bayrou "an open debate on ideas -- without preconditions -- in order find common ground."
"It is up to Bayrou to say whether he wants this debate. It is my responsibility as a woman of the left to give a signal to all voters who want change," she said.
But Royal's campaign director Francois Rebsamen made clear that "public debate does not mean secret deals in the corridors or party manoeuvres."
Pledging a "clean break" from the politics of the past, Sarkozy, 52, has centred his campaign around right-wing themes such as the work ethic, national identity and economic liberalisation.
Royal promises to protect the country's generous "social model" and her 100-point "presidential pact" contains many new welfare projects to fight poverty and joblessness.
The two candidates are to hold a television debate on May 2, which should be the high point of the second round campaign.
France is voting for a successor to Jacques Chirac, who has been president since 1995, in an election that has become the focus of impassioned debate over the nation's future direction.
The 74-year-old Gaullist leader was reported Tuesday to be planning his move from the Elysee palace into an apartment overlooking the river Seine on the capital's Left Bank.
Le Parisien newspaper said his wife Bernadette was already overseeing the moving of the couple's furniture and possessions to the 180-square-metre (1,900-square-feet) apartment, which has a view across the river to the Louvre museum.
In addition to the Quai Voltaire apartment, Chirac will have access to offices at the nearby National Assembly as well as at a Foundation for Ecology and Cultural Dialogue to be set up in his name later this year, the paper said.
Meanwhile France's Official Gazette published details of his personal estate -- in accordance with a law governing the conduct of presidents when they leave office.
The couple's chateau in the Correze department of southwest France was valued at 500,000 euros (680,000 dollars), and a country cottage in the same region was put at 60,000 euros. A Paris apartment which they owned in 1995 has been made over to their daughter Claude.
The Chiracs declared personal belongings and artworks worth 580,000 euros and 74,000 euros in the bank. They also said they possess a 1984 Peugeot 205.
