French Election - First Round Prediction

While we won't have "official" results for a few days following the election the French press can publish exit polls at 8 PM Paris time. I'll be posting them here as they come in.

My prediction: Sarkozy 27%, Bayrou 24%, Royale 21%, Le Pen 16%

If I'm right and Bayrou comes in second the Sarkozy is going to have a hard time winning the second round.

Edit: The cool thing about the French presidential election is that they get the process of installing a new President over quickly; by May 16th there will be a new French President.

So far it looks like a higher than expected turnout. I think a lot of French voters view this as an election which will shape France for decades.

Edit II: Click here to read an interesting post on the issue of how France understands itself.