Results of two opinion surveys showed France’s three principle candidates closing in further a week ahead of the first round of the elections.

The two polls by CSA and IFOP were published in LeParisien and Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday.

The CSA poll showed that the center-right candidate of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) Party and the former Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy still led the with 26 % of votes, down one percent since the previous poll taken on April 10 and 11.

The Socialist candidate Segolene Royal who bids to become France’s first female president lost two points but …