For the next, the pollsters predict he will get just 5-6%, behind even Arlette Arguiller, the amusingly perennial Trotskyite candidate.

ECONOMIST: The party is probably on the skids, whoever runs it

Arlette Laguiller , leader of the Trotskyite Workers' Struggle, is an almost iconic figure: in 1974 she was the first woman to run for president.

ECONOMIST: France's presidential hopefuls