one other universities were functioning normally while the rest were closed for holidays, it said. Chirac said he took the decision to scrap the CPE, which had been championed by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, "to end a situation of blockade ... and for the sake of peace and order", the spokesman added. Some students want new protests over labour laws which are already in force and which they see as unfair. The government's defeat after the protests, which brought millions of people onto the street, has raised doubts about Villepin's political survival and all but destroyed the chances of the close Chirac ally running for president in 2007. This is widely seen as boosting Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's hopes of becoming the main centre-right presidential candidate although his relations with Chirac are uneasy. A survey by Ipsos institute showed Chirac's ratings had slid from 40 percent backing in March to 29 percent in April. In a survey of nearly 1,000 people at the weekend, Ipsos found Socialist Royal would pip Sarkozy by 51 percent to 49 percent to become France's first female president. Royal confirmed she would be ready to run in 2007, unless somebody else turned out to be better placed than her. "It's a long rocky road. But there you go. I've said it," she said in an online chat for LCI television. Villepin delayed the proposals for a ban on smoking in public places and called for months of consultation on a move likely to anger bar owners and millions of French smokers. Anti-tobacco campaigners criticised his decision. "Once again we see a government which throws in the towel," said Socialist deputy Claude Evin, who gave his name to a 1991 law restricting advertising of tobacco and alcohol products.
