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Sarkozy attacks 'warlike' rival

PARIS, France (CNN) -- Voting in French presidential elections started on Saturday as conservative front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy attacked "warlike" remarks by socialist rival Segolene Royal, who said his possible election on Sunday could cause unrest.

Polling stations opened in French Guiana, the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe and the overseas territory of St. Pierre and Miquelon off Canada's east coast, as voting took place a day before polls open in mainland France.

About 1 million French nationals outside France can vote a day early in a move intended to boost turnout. The rest of France's 44.5 million electors vote on Sunday.

In an interview released by the French daily Le Parisien on its Web site late on Friday, Sarkozy said his rival's warning there might be violence if she lost the election was a sign of desperation.

"This warlike language is the negation of basic democratic rules," Sarkozy said, according to Reuters. "No doubt it's because she's demoralized," he added.

Sarkozy has topped every opinion poll since collecting the most votes in the first round of voting on April 22.

"To explain that if people don't vote for one candidate there will be violence is quite simply to refuse the democratic and republican expression of opinion," Sarkozy said.

Official campaigning ended Friday at midnight between Sarkozy and Royal.

On Friday, Royal compared Sarkozy to U.S. President George W. Bush and described him as a "dangerous choice."

Sarkozy has vowed to get tough on crime and immigration, cut unemployment and liberalize the French economy.

'Dangerous choice'

Royal told French radio on Friday morning she would "fight to the finish," warning that Sarkozy's tough stance on law and order would plunge the country into violence -- a reference to his role in curbing protests as interior minister during the 2005 Paris riots.

"The choice of Nicolas Sarkozy is a dangerous choice. I do not want France to be oriented toward a system of brutality," Royal said on RTL radio.

Royal added that her rival could not even set foot in some deprived suburbs without provoking unrest.

"When a candidate has so much nerve to tell lies and counter-truths and cannot even go everywhere in the country, then yes, I think this candidacy is a risk."

In a separate interview published by Le Parisien, Royal accused Sarkozy of mimicking Bush's "compassionate conservatism."

"[Sarkozy] carries the same neo-conservative ideology. He doesn't hesitate to envisage dismantling public services, when we badly need nurses and teachers," the newspaper quoted her as saying.

Sarkozy, who in a fiery televised debate on Wednesday watched by 20 million people questioned whether Royal possessed the temperament to be president, retorted that his opponent could "feel the ground giving way beneath her feet."

"She's not in a good mood this morning. It must be the opinion polls," he told Europe 1 radio, adding: "I am waiting serenely for the French people's choice."

In final rallies on Thursday evening, both candidates urged their supporters to come out in force on Sunday.

Royal, bidding to become France's first female president, told 25,000 supporters in the northern city of Lille that voting for a woman would be an "audacious choice," The Associated Press reported.

"The victory that we want so much, that we desire so much for France, that victory is at hand," she said.

Sarkozy, addressing supporters in Montpellier in the south, vowed to govern "without hatred" in a "disparate coalition."

Both candidates continued their efforts Friday to win over voters who failed to back them in last month's first round. Royal spent the day in Brittany, in western France, while Sarkozy was visiting the Alps.

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.