Polls suggest Sarkozy campaign has stalled Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign for re-election as France's president appears to have stalled ahead of the first round of voting on Sunday, according to a clutch of opinion polls. Although the polls show Mr Sarkozy and François Hollande, the Socialist challenger, are likely to come out on top on Sunday among the 10 candidates, they indicated an earlier advance by the president had faded and he remained far behind Mr Hollande for the decisive second round on May 6. Mr Sarkozy's camp, frustrated by his apparent inability to convince voters that Mr Hollande's proposals on new taxes and spending pose a risk to the economy, blames strict election rules in force in the final weeks of the first round campaign that ensure equal television and radio air time for all 10 candidates. "This period is difficult for us because [the broadcast rule] makes the big candidates inaudible," Jean-François Copé, head of the ruling centre-right UMP party, said earlier this week. That favours Mr Hollande who has an interest in being inaudible. But Mr Sarkozy has an interest in being heard. Although as frontrunner Mr Hollande has not complained about the broadcast rule, he is concerned about indications that turnout could be relatively low - and about a dramatic advance by Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the Left Front, a hard-left group including the Communist party. Both could undermine Mr Hollande's hope of coming top on Sunday, which would strengthen his momentum. Mr Sarkozy regained ground on Mr Hollande after he launched his official campaign in mid-February with a media blitz, taking the lead in a number of polls for the first round and narrowing the gap for the second. The trend continued after the terrorist killings in Toulouse last month. But he has since stalled or slipped back in all six main weekly polls. A BVA poll on Wednesday put Mr Hollande on 29.5 per cent in the first round, with Mr Sarkozy closing the gap by one point over the previous week on 27.5 per cent. But it showed Mr Hollande easily winning the second round with 56 per cent of the vote, unchanged over the week. Another poll by CSA on Tuesday showed Mr Hollande stretching his first round lead to 29 per cent, against 24 per cent for Mr Sarkozy, and building a huge 16-point advantage for the second round. Both polls put Marine Le Pen, leader of the extreme right National Front, in third place with up to 17 per cent, with Mr Mélenchon vying with François Bayrou of the centrist Modem party, for fourth. The lack of progress by Mr Sarkozy has left him with a dilemma. He needs to recapture votes both from Ms Le Pen and from Mr Bayrou to boost his score in the first round and to have any chance of overhauling Mr Hollande in the second. In a clear attempt to swing Modem voters his way, senior ministers from the president's ruling centre-right UMP party, including Alain Juppé, the foreign minister, have said Mr Bayrou could become prime minister in a new Sarkozy government. Asked about this on Wednesday, Mr Sarkozy pointedly did not deny the possibility. "We will see after the first round," he said in a broadcast interview. On Ms Le Pen he said: "A vote for [her] serves who? François Hollande. It is a kick in the ants" nest - you get the Socialists and more taxes."