French left, right riven by division before vote

PARIS, Oct 15 (Reuters) The two frontrunners in France's presidential election came under sharp attack today from within their own camps, revealing yawning divisions in the left and right-wing blocs that look impossible to heal.

Both the conservative favourite, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, and the leading Socialist candidate, Segolene Royal, have angered their party elders by presenting themselves as outsiders anxious to break the political mould.

Their strategy has struck a chord with the electorate ahead of next year's vote, helping the duo maintain healthy leads in the opinion polls, but it has also lacerated many of their political allies who accuse them of betraying their roots.

Jean-Louis Debre, the leader of the lower house of parliament and close to President Jacques Chirac, warned Sarkozy that he risked unleashing a storm on the right with his constant calls for a clean break from the past.

''To denigrate, question and criticise the policy of a government when you are a member of it is not only an error, but a political mistake,'' Debre said in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

''This aggressive climate is becoming unbearable,'' he added.

The Socialists are likewise being traumatised by the fight to see who will win their presidential ticket, with Royal leading her heavyweight challengers -- ex-finance minister Dominique Strauss Kahn and ex-prime minister Laurent Fabius.

The party holds its primary vote next month and a series of six debates between the three candidates kicks off on Tuesday, with Royal's critics battling to make inroads into her 40 point lead in the opinion polls.

NEW FACE One of Fabius's allies, Senator Jean-Luc Melenchon, accused Royal of presenting herself as a new face in politics, despite the fact that she launched her career in the 1980s under Socialist President Francois Mitterrand.

''A feminine elephant is not called a gazelle,'' he said in an interview with Le Parisien daily, accusing Royal of putting forward ''disastrous'' policies, such as sending young offenders to boot camp. ''The right is undergoing a similar crisis to us,'' he added.

The irrepressible Sarkozy is head of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and expects to be designated as its presidential candidate at a Janaury 14 congress.

However, his rivals Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie have both made clear over the past week that another UMP politician could run against him regardless of what the party congress decides.

''Everything remains open and should remain that way for quite some time yet,'' said the influential Debre. ''Nothing authorises (Sarkozy) to impose (his calendar) on others.'' Opinion polls show that most French people expect both Sarkozy and Royal to make it through to the second round of the election next May, but the splits opening up in their two camps might well come back to haunt them.

''Divisions will be our downfall,'' Debre said.

REUTERS SY BS1822