France election 2012: Nicolas Sarkozy issues direct appeal to National Front voters Miss Le Pen won 18 per cent of the vote on Sunday - around 6.5 million ballots. The score was the highest for a far-Right contender in any major Western post-war election, and bettered her father Jean-Marie's five previous presidential attempts. She won 1.6 million votes more than he did in 2002 when he reached the second round. Mr Sarkozy pushed the hot button issues that helped boost Miss Le Pen's score, including promises to toughen border controls, tighten security on the streets and keep industrial jobs in France. He called for a "very big gathering" on May Day, probably on Paris's Champs de Mars near the Eiffel Tower, on the theme of work, implying that the Left was not tough enough on welfare abusers. In a simultaneous campaign speech in Tours, Mr Hollande blamed the high FN score on Mr Sarkozy. "I won't make the foreigner, the immigrant the issue that will separate us (contenders) in this election," he said. "The person responsible for the far-Right is he who sometimes uses the words of the far-Right...he who has broken a certain number of fundamental rights...he who has allowed a Europe of free exchange, one that didn't dominate finance and he would now come and complain about what he has put in place," said Mr Hollande. He has presents himself as the candidate of the people while he has done nothing but defend privileges and the power of money. As the pair clashed, Sarkozy aides said that if he had not addressed such issues, Miss Le Pen's score may well have been far higher. "The risk is huge to find ourselves in a 1930s scenario with an economic crisis that transforms into a global social and political crisis," said his special advisor Henri Guaino. Yes there is a risk it all ends in catastrophe. But the FN camp yesterday sent clear messages to its electorate not to heed the Sarkozy sirens as they did in 2007, and to stay away from the polls on May 6. "The French no longer fall for this electioneering game Sarkozy plays," said Miss Le Pen's strategy director Florian Philippot. FN number two Louis Aliot said: "There is a non-choice between François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy. As a citizen, I am going to vote. But I won't choose one or the other. I'll cast a blank vote. Miss Le Pen is due to "explain her choice" for the second round in a speech during the party's annual May Day rally in Paris's Place de l'Opéra. She is expected to reject both finalists, in the hope that Mr Sarkozy loses, his party implodes and that she goes on to make gains in June's parliamentary elections. Her stunning gains were the latest for a string of anti-establishment Eurosceptic populists from the Netherlands to Greece who have tapped into anger over rising unemployment and tough austerity measures to tackle the euro zone's debt crisis. They sent shockwaves around Europe's political leadership. "This high score is alarming but I expect it will be ironed out in the second round," said a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, adding that she continued to support Mr Sarkozy in the election. Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt said: "I'm concerned with the sentiments that we see that are against open societies, against an open Europe, that does worry me, not only in France." Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn echoed Mr Hollande's claims that Mr Sarkozy was partly to blame for Miss Le Pen's success. "If you repeat every day that we must change Schengen (passport-free travel zone), that we must have a strong immigration policy, that we have to speak about French exception, this is all grist for the FN mill," said the Socialist. Final results placed Mr Hollande in first place on 28.6 per cent, only just ahead of Mr Sarkozy on 27.2 per cent. The deceptively small gap between the two belies the challenge Mr Sarkozy still faces, as polls yesterday suggested Mr Hollande will win the runoff with between 53 to 56 per cent of the vote. The Socialist has larger reserves of second-round votes than Mr Sarkozy, who would need to pick up at least three quarters of the Le Pen electorate and two thirds of Mr Bayrou's to snatch victory. Polls suggest he currently stands to pick up 48-60 percent of the Le Pen vote, while Bayrou backers are split almost evenly between the two finalists.