Socialist leader Lionel Jospin hoping for victory

Internet Fills Poll Void in France

With the first round of France's parliamentary elections on Sunday, the current standing of the parties is the subject of intense speculation.

No opinion polls have been published since last Saturday, under a law which bans them in the week leading up to the vote.

But inspite of the ban, polls are still being carried out and the results can be found in cyberspace for those lucky enough who have a connection to the internet - around 300,000 people.

The polls are possible because of a loophole in the 1977 law on polling. Although it bans the publication of opinion polls in France, it does not actually ban polling.

Various institutes have been continuing their surveys in the last week of the campaign. The results have been distributed around the political parties, the media and the financial world, leaving most of the electorate in the dark.

It has led to outraged editorials in the newspapers, complaining that there are now two classes of citizen: those privileged enough to be in the know, and the rest.

But there is hope for the man in the beret eating his baguette. Two web sites run by Swiss and British newspapers, have promised to publish the latest figures.

In the words of the France Soir newspaper, logging onto the internet will be a secret pleasure like listening to Radio London under the Occupation.

Other countries, such as Belgium, Spain and Italy also ban polls in the run up to elections. But Britain, Germany and the United States have no restrictions on polls.