Nog veel zwevende kiezers in Frankrijk (en)

An estimated one fifth of French citizens are still undecided on how to vote during the referendum on the EU Constitution, polls show.

The number of people stating that they could still change their minds before the referendum varies between 20 and 24 per cent, depending on the different institutes carrying out the surveys, according to an article published in Tuesday's Le Monde.

The "undecided" are not people who do not have opinions, but rather people who do not have convictions, and this makes them important targets for pre-referendum campaigners, writes the paper.

The undecided citizens are mostly women, under the age of 50 and with socialist inclinations, a TNS-Sofres survey undertaken for the newspaper shows.

This might be partly explained by the internal conflict in the French socialist party, which has caused upset to supporters, according to the survey.

On the other hand, there are few undecided voters on the extreme right (8 per cent) and the extreme left (2 per cent) of the electorate, and less than 20 per cent within the two main right-wing parties (17 per cent amongst UDF voters, and 19 per cent amongst UMP supporters).

The standard of living does not seem to be a factor of indecision.

It also appears difficult to determine whether the undecided voters likely to say yes are more or less numerous than those likely to say no.

Brice Teinturier, director of the Sofres' Politics and Opinions department, also remarked that "one can just notice a very slight lead of the category of those certain to vote no, but it remains minor".

Meanwhile, a survey published in Tuesday's Le Figaro puts the no at 53 per cent, and the yes at 47 per cent. It also foresees a high turnout of the referendum, as 67 per cent of those questioned have said they are certain to vote.

And "at the end of the great democratic debate that has taken place in France" on the constitution, French president Jacques Chirac will make a TV address to the nation at 20:00 CET on Thursday (26 May), his office announced.

This will be one of the president's last efforts to put the yes back on track, and possibly to gain the undecided voters' support, as the French referendum will be held this Sunday (29 May).