• Party: Union for a Popular Movement (right)

• First presidential run

• Currently polling between 27% and 30%

Though he has been a cabinet member off and on since the mid-1990s, Mr. Sarkozy portrays himself as an outsider, calling for a "gentle rupture" with the policies of the current government. Mr. Sarkozy, 52, who stepped down as interior minister in late March to focus on his campaign, says the French should be allowed to work longer hours, and he pledges to balance the budget by 2010 and trim France's unemployment rate to 5% by 2012. He is seen as the front-runner in this election. But his tough stance on immigration and the harsh comments he made about housing-project youths during the 2005 riots drew scorn from many circles, and polls suggest he makes many voters anxious. In a recent book, entitled "Together," Mr. Sarkozy tries to dispel that image, claiming he became "more serene, and maybe wiser too."

• WSJ Profile: Sarkozy Taps French Desire for Security (04/19/07)

AP

• Party: Socialist Party (left)

• First presidential run

• Currently polling between 22.5% and 26%

A junior minister in past Socialist-led governments, Ms. Royal only recently shot up through the ranks of the party establishment to vanquish two high-profile party veterans in the November primaries. In doing so she became the first female presidential nominee of a major mainstream party. Many believe the socialist base, still shaken by Lionel Jospin's 2002 humiliating loss in the first round, was eager to find a fresh face. But Ms. Royal's relative lack of experience seems to be undermining her broader support -- as have the gaffes she has accumulated since entering the race. In her 100-point platform, Ms. Royal pledges to raise the minimum wage and improve pensions, but also offers such controversial ideas as the establishment of citizen juries that would oversee government policy and creation of military-run camps for young delinquents.

• WSJ Profile: Is This the Next President of France? (02/10/07)

AP

• Party: Union for French Democracy (center-right)

• Second presidential run (fourth place in 2002)

• Currently polling between 15% and 20%

If elected, François Bayrou says he would create a coalition drawing "talented politicians" from across the political spectrum. The center-right candidate's pledge to bridge the left-right political divide helped him make the jump from also-ran to potential contender, with most polls showing him only a notch behind the two principal candidates. A former education minister, Mr. Bayrou says he would improve the country's educational system, help small businesses develop and make France's labor laws more flexible. Though placing third in most surveys for the first round of voting, polls give him an edge over both Ms. Royal and Mr. Sarkozy should he make the runoff.

• WSJ Profile: Centrist Candidate Gains Ground in France (03/09/07)

AP

• Party: National Front (far-right)

• Fifth presidential run (second place in 2002)

• Currently polling between 13% and 16%

Nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen, long shunned by mainstream politicians as the black sheep of French politics, stunned the country in 2002 when he outpolled then-Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and made it to the second round of the presidential election. If Mr. Le Pen was easily defeated by Jacques Chirac in the runoff, he still managed to get nearly a fifth of the votes, a scandalous result to many French people because he once dismissed the Holocaust as a "detail" of history and is regularly accused of racism. Mr. Le Pen, who claims he isn't xenophobic but "pro-French," wants to expel would-be immigrants and make discrimination in favor of French people a constitutional right. Since other candidates have adopted Mr. Le Pen's issues, many believe he doesn't stand a chance of reenacting his 2002 performance. But history shows he always fares better than pollsters predict.

AP

• Party: Communist Revolutionary League (far-left)

• Second presidential run (eighth place in 2002)

• Currently polling between 4% and 5%

Olivier Besancenot, a Trotskyist, made a name for himself in 2002 when, at the age of 28, he won more than 4% of the first-round presidential vote. In 2005, he was one of the most outspoken opponents of the European constitutional treaty, which the French rejected in a referendum. If elected, Mr. Besancenot would raise the minimum wage and reduce the workweek, prohibit layoffs in profitable companies, make public transportation free and get out of nuclear energy within ten years. Mr. Besancenot is the only candidate in the presidential field who isn't a full-time politician. A mailman for the past 10 years, he took an unpaid leave to go on the campaign trail.

AP

• Party: French Communist Party (far-left)

• First presidential run

• Currently polling between 2% and 3%

After joining the successful campaign to block the European constitutional treaty in 2005, Marie-George Buffet sought to create an alliance with the country's other anticapitalist parties in order to put forward a single far-left presidential candidate in 2007. But her efforts failed, since other factions believed Ms. Buffet -- the national secretary of the once-powerful Communists -- was looking to head that alliance. Like several other leftist candidates, Ms. Buffet wants to raise the minimum wage, reduce the workweek and increase taxes on the well-off. And like each of her four far-left rivals, she isn't expected to get more than 5% of the first-round vote.

AP

• Party: No party affiliation, but an antiglobalization icon

• First presidential run

• Currently polling between 1.5% and 3%

José Bové is an environmental activist turned sheep farmer who became a household name in France after he ransacked a McDonald's and smuggled nearly 500 pounds of U.S.-banned Roquefort cheese into the U.S. ahead of the 1999 World Trade Organization summit in Seattle. An outspoken opponent of globalization and genetically modified food, Mr. Bové looks to reach out to people who don't bother to vote "because they no longer believe in politics." But his campaign faced a setback in February, when a French appeals court upheld a four-month jail sentence he was given for destroying crops of genetically modified corn. It is unlikely, however, that Mr. Bové will spend any time in jail before the election.

AP

• Party: Movement for France (far-right)

• Second presidential run (seventh place in 1995)

• Currently polling between 1% and 3%

Philippe de Villiers is running on an anti-immigration, euroseptic, pro-family platform. If elected, he would cut taxes, expel all illegal immigrants and prevent Turkey from joining the EU. He also wants to halt what he calls "the Islamization of France," pledging to stop the construction of new mosques and dismiss the French council of the Muslim religion. France's rejection of the European constitutional treaty -- Mr. de Villiers was an outspoken opponent -- convinced him to take another shot at the presidency despite his unsuccessful bid in 1995. (He sat out the 2002 contest.) But Mr. de Villiers is polling even lower than he did 12 years ago, and he is struggling to win the hearts of far-right voters against the better-known Jean Marie Le Pen.

AP

• Party: Workers' Struggle (far-left)

• Sixth presidential run (fifth place in 2002)

• Currently polling between 1% and 2.5%

Arlette Laguiller has more presidential campaigns behind her than any other current candidate and says this one will be her last. Ms. Laguiller, a self-avowed "anticapitalist," managed to get more than 5% of the first-round vote in her last two attempts, a factor that helped knock Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin out in the first round of 2002's election. This time, though, she'll have to scramble for votes with the four other far-left candidates in the race. Like her Trotskyist rival, Olivier Besancenot, Ms. Laguiller looks to raise the minimum wage and prohibit layoffs at profitable companies. She also wants to limit and possibly abolish the value-added tax.

AP

• Party: Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Tradition

• First presidential run

• Currently polling between 1% and 2%

Frédéric Nihous promotes himself as both a representative of the hunting lobby and an advocate for rural France. This 39 year-old lawyer, an avid hunter himself, argues the Left and the Right tend to ignore "20% of Frenchmen who live on 80% of the territory." If elected, Mr. Nihous says he would halt the closing of small-town schools and police stations, outlaw most genetically modified food, and make France's hunting and fishing laws more lenient. His Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Tradition party surprisingly won more than 4% of the first-round presidential vote in 2002. But Mr. Nihous doesn't have the name-recognition or charisma of Jean Saint-Josse, the party's previous candidate.

AP

• Party: The Greens

• Second presidential run (eighth place in 1995)

• Currently polling between 1% and 2%

Dominique Voynet first ran for president in 1995, when she won more than 3% of the first-round vote. In 1997, she joined Lionel Jospin's left-wing cabinet, becoming the first member of the Greens -- a party she co-founded in 1984 -- to hold a ministerial post. Yet her tenure as Environment minister drew mixed reviews, especially her failure to react promptly when an oil tanker was wrecked off the coast of Brittany in 1999. If elected president, Ms. Voynet, currently a senator, pledges to get out of nuclear energy and outlaw genetically modified food by 2030. She would also give legal status to all illegal immigrants and allow same-sex marriage. But she will probably struggle to match even her 1995 result, since most of this year's mainstream candidates have included an environmental component in their platform.

AP

• Party: Workers' Party (far-left)

• First presidential run

• Currently polling between 0% and 1%

Gérard Schivardi is the mayor of Mahlaic, a village of fewer than 400 inhabitants located in southern France. The 56 year-old bricklayer wants to restore the rights of authorities in the country's 36,000 communes -- like a say on local schools and post offices -- that he says are slowly being taken away. If elected, Mr. Schivardi would pull France out of the European Union and renationalize Airbus. But his already quixotic campaign suffered a setback when the Association of French Mayors (AMF) claimed that Mr. Schivardi, who bills himself as "the mayors' candidate," wasn't authorized to do so, since the AMF hadn't endorsed him. The association took legal action to prevent Mr. Schivardi from using his slogan on campaign material, forcing him to forsake hundreds of thousands of already-printed leaflets and posters.

AP