PARIS, April 26 (Reuters) – Far-right leader Marine Le Pen,
who has emerged as a kingmaker in France’s presidential race,
sought to wrest concessions from President Nicolas Sarkozy on
Thursday by challenging him not to bar her party’s way in
parliamentary elections.

Both conservative Sarkozy and Socialist frontrunner Francois
Hollande have courted Le Pen’s voters since she took third place
in Sunday’s presidential first round with nearly one fifth of
the vote, the National Front’s best score.

PARIS, April 26 (Reuters) – Far-right leader Marine Le Pen,
who stunned France by seizing almost a fifth of presidential
first round votes, said she was waiting for answers from
President Nicolas Sarkozy before telling her supporters how to
vote in a runoff.

After Le Pen took third place in Sunday’s ballot with the
National Front’s top score in a national election, centre-right
Sarkozy and Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande have courted
her voters, who may decide the May 6 second round result.

PARIS (Reuters) – France wants to see 300 U.N. observers in Syria within two weeks and will push for a “Chapter 7″ resolution at the United Nations unless Damascus complies with the terms of a peace plan by early May, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Wednesday.

Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter allows the Security Council to authorize actions which can ultimately include the use of military force.

PARIS (Reuters) – In setting a record score for the far right in Sunday’s French presidential election, Marine Le Pen has set the stage for her National Front to try and break into parliament at a legislative election in June.

Le Pen came third with 18.2 percent, becoming a kingmaker for the May 6 runoff between Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande and conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy. She was already looking ahead to further electoral battles.

PARIS (Reuters) – Far-right victory cries all but drowned out left-wing cheers on Sunday as anti-immigration National Front leader Marine Le Pen upstaged France’s two main presidential rivals with a record score that makes her a kingmaker in their runoff.

Almost everyone claimed victory: Le Pen voters feted a 19-percent score that rattled the establishment; Socialist Francois Hollande’s backers cheered his first-round win; and supporters of incumbent conservative Nicolas Sarkozy bet that the Le Pen surprise could tip the odds in his favor for a May 6 runoff.

PARIS (Reuters) – Far-rightist Marine Le Pen threw France’s presidential race wide open on Sunday by scoring nearly 20 percent in the first round – votes that may determine a runoff between Socialist favorite Francois Hollande and conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Hollande led Sarkozy by about 28.5 percent to 26 percent in reliable computer projections broadcast with one-third of ballots counted, meaning the two will meet in a head-to-head decider on May 6 that may be closer than had been expected.

PARIS (Reuters) – France is drafting a new resolution for the United Nations Security Council designed to allow a larger observer force to be deployed in Syria with up to 500 observers as well as helicopters, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Friday.

The U.N. Security Council – divided between Western countries that want to topple President Bashar al-Assad, and Russia and China which support him – is supposed to endorse a proposal to send a larger observer force as part of a six-point U.N.-Arab League plan for a political transition in Syria.

PARIS (Reuters) – The “Friends of Syria” coalition meeting in Paris on Thursday called a U.N.-backed peace plan the “last hope” to resolve the crisis and said they would do all they could to help it succeed, according to draft conclusions obtained by Reuters.

“Every day that passes means dozens of new Syrian civilian deaths,” the French-language statement said as French officials hosted senior diplomats from a dozen or so like-minded governments. “It is not time to prevaricate. It is time to act.”

PARIS, April 19 (Reuters) – France said on Thursday a
U.N.-backed peace mission needed to send at least 300-400
observers to Syria to succeed – higher than previous estimates -
adding foreign powers would discuss new ways to end the violence
in case the mission failed.

Damascus and the United Nations agreed on Thursday on the
terms for observers to enter the country to monitor a ceasefire,
called more than a year after the start of an uprising against
President Bashar al-Assad.

PARIS (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for aid corridors to be set up in Syria to protect opponents of Bashar al-Assad and urged major powers to show unity to persuade Russia and China to drop their support for the Syrian president.

Ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris on Thursday, Sarkozy repeated calls to create a safe passage for relief organizations – with Syrian approval or an international mandate – to get food and medicine to about 1 million civilians caught up in the fighting.