ÉPINAL, France, March 8 (UPI) -- A third candidate has moved up to challenge the two front-runners in the French presidential race.
François Bayrou, a 55-year-old politician, farmer and former classics teacher, is reported catching on as the alternate anti-partisan candidate to the big two: the right's Nicolas Sarkozy and the left's Ségolène Royal.
His strategy as the "neither-nor" candidate reflects disillusionment with the others, the International Herald Tribune says, putting a fresh face on a familiar one for the first round of voting on April 22.
Bayrou, who pronounces his name "Bye-roo," is a long-time centrist who ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2002 and calls himself a Clintonian democrat, the newspaper said.
This time, however, with the percentage of undecided voters higher than any presidential election in 25 years and as many as 20 percent telling pollsters they will choose Bayrou in the first round, he's suddenly a contender.
