Web Desk
France is voting today in what is expected to be a tightly-contested presidential election. People will cast their votes in the first ballot of a two-round presidential election. A total of 11 candidates are in the race in this election among which four are the main contenders.
he election candidates are the independent Emmanual Macron, Francois Fillon of the conservative Les Republicains, Benoit Hamon of the Socialist Party, Marine Le Pen of the far-right Front National and Jean-Luc Melenchon, who is supported by the Communist party.
The first round of voting takes place on April 23 with the top two candidates then facing off in a decisive second round on May 7.
Current polls suggest that Marine Le Pen will become only the second Front National candidate after her father in 2002 to reach the run-off. But who she would face is still up in the air in a race that has been hit by scandal.
If none of the candidates wins more than 50 percent today, the vote goes to a second round. The two top candidates will face each other in a second run-off which will be held on May 7.
Voting for country’s most unpredictable presidential election in decades is taking place under heightened security after the terrorist killing of a policeman.
The shooting on world-renowned Champs Elysees avenue in Paris on Thursday thrust questions of security to the fore of campaigning after nine months of relative calm. The polling is being seen as crucial for the future of a deeply divided country and the beleaguered European Union.
Surveys showed until now that the French are more concerned about jobs and the economy than terrorism. Opinion polls suggest that at least four candidates have a chance of grabbing one of the two places in the May runoff. Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen and 39-year-old centrist former banker Emmanuel Macron are leading the polls.
Conservative Francois Fillon and hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon also have a decent chance of advancing as the two are just a few points behind the front runners.