French forces of the left forge a common front

The heads of France's Socialist and Communist parties, uneasy allies when not outright enemies for nearly 80 years, tried to hammer out plans to beat the ruling centre-right coalition in a snap election.

Both Socialist Lionel Jospin and Communist Robert Hue insisted they would aim solely to define goals rather than reach an official pact to govern together in case of victory in the 25 May-1 June poll.

The ruling coalition remains the narrow favourite to win next month's parliamentary election although close to a third of voters may yet change their minds, an opinion poll showed. The Louis Harris poll credited the centre-right with 39 per cent of the vote, against 38.5 percent for the left-wing bloc. The far-right National Front scored 15.5 per cent and the Greens seven per cent. Paris - Agencies