Sarkozy's party fractures over Le Pen talks Cracks have started to emerge in Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right party ahead of Sunday's presidential election, as senior figures clashed over the idea of talks with the far-right National Front. Marine Le Pen, the Front's leader, said rejection of talks by top UMP figures would undermine Mr Sarkozy's bid to win over the 6.5m voters who supported her in the first round of the election - and whose backing he needs if he is to beat his socialist challenger, François Hollande. Party heavyweights on Wednesday criticised a suggestion by Gérard Longuet, defence minister, that Ms Le Pen was more acceptable than her father and party founder, Jean-Marie. His intervention was widely interpreted as a signal that the centre-right UMP was prepared to discuss co-operation, if not a formal pact, with the Front ahead of parliamentary elections next month. But it provoked a strong internal response, underscoring the pressure Ms Le Pen's success has placed on the party. Overshadowing preparations for a televised debate between the two candidates on Wednesday evening, senior UMP figures took to the airwaves to denounce Mr Longuet's move and insist that talks with Ms Le Pen remained a taboo. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former centre-right prime minister, said Mr Longuet's proposal was "regrettable in substance and ill-timed in manner." "There will never be an electoral agreement with the National Front, nor discussion, nor negotiation with the leaders of the National Front," said Jean-François Copé, leader of the UMP. Ms Le Pen responded: "Mr Sarkozy is attempting to convince [my voters]. The reaction of the UMP leadership to Mr Longuet's declaration is probably the best way to alienate them. Twisting the knife, she accused Mr Copé, widely regarded as having ambitions to run for the presidency in 2017, of deliberately seeking to undermine Mr Sarkozy. "Clearly Mr Copé is doing everything to make Mr Sarkozy lose," she told a press conference. Up to 20m people were expected to tune in to the two-and-half hour television debate to be broadcast in full on France's two main TV channels on Wednesday evening. It was billed as the highlight of a campaign that had previously lacked any face-to-face confrontation between the two candidates. But the possibility of the right losing the Elysée palace for the first time in 17 years is likely to put the party under considerable strain as candidates prepare for a difficult set of parliamentary elections with rival heavyweights vying for influence. In an interview with Le Figaro, the conservatives" house newspaper, Mr Copé said the different factions should consider forming movements within the UMP to prevent it splitting altogether. Two opinion polls published on Wednesday suggested that Mr Hollande's lead over Mr Sarkozy was narrowing, albeit marginally. A BVA poll put the gap at 53.5 per cent versus 46.5 per cent, while an Ifop sounding gave Mr Hollande a lead of 54-46. The BVA poll suggested that Mr Sarkozy was winning over 57 per cent of National Front voters, but Ifop put the figure at 47 per cent - far from enough to overturn Mr Hollande's lead. Ms Le Pen said she believed 45 per cent of her supporters would back Mr Sarkozy, 15 per cent would vote for Mr Hollande and the rest would abstain or cast blank votes, as she has vowed to do.