1.   With the Socialists in most constituencies opting to go it alone in pursuit of an overall majority, the left was now divided.

2.   The left was divided and split about tactics and what the war should achieve.

3.   The left has been divided by the emergence this year of a hard-hitting populist, Natalya Vitrenko, who is running the most radical campaign of any serious candidate.

4.   This has already divided the left.

5.   Chirac would almost certainly choose Socialist Party leader Lionel Jospin, but the left is divided over the EMU issue.