Almost 50 million Frenchmen are called to the polls this Sunday to elect president, with centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right Marine Le Pen favourites in a tight first round after an atypical campaign.
The polling stations opened their doors at 08:00 (local time) for voting, which began previously in the overseas territories and abroad.
The results will be known from 8:00pm, when the last polling stations close.
“In the context of what is happening in Ukraine and Russia, how lucky are we French people to be able to vote in democracy, to be able to choose,” Antoine Jounet, 43, assured AFP when he cast his vote at the French Lyceum in New York.
The launch of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24 concealed the election campaign, but the effect on energy prices brought it back to the fore, mainly because of concerns about purchasing power.
The start of the war in the eastern reaches of Europe prompted the liberal president, but also his main rival Le Pen, who in the final stretch progressed in the polls to close to victory against Macron if they both pass to the ballot on April 24.
Of the ten remaining candidates, leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon is the only one with any option of preventing both candidates from getting their ticket to the second round on Sunday, reinforced by his image of a “useful vote” of an atomized left.
The first round is not without surprises as in 2002, when the far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine's father, qualified against all odds for the ballot together with the conservative Jacques Chirac, who ended up winning his re-election.
The abstention of the first round then reached the record of 28.4% for a presidential one. Another question is whether this maximum will be broken, as many political scientists believe. In 2017, 22.2% of voters did not vote in the first round.
REPUBLICAN FRONT
Marine Le Pen, 53, and Emmanuel Macron, 44, were already vying for the keys to the Elysée in 2017, which the centrist won with two-thirds of the votes. But even if the scenario seems to repeat itself five years later, the country is not the same.
The coronavirus broke into France in early 2020, confined millions of people and left behind a first half of Macron's mandate marked by social protests. The war in Ukraine broke out when the French began to breathe.
Macron played the role of a stable president in times of crisis and reformist; Le Pen presented herself as the defender of purchasing power, with a less radical image by avoiding focusing on her favorite themes: migrants, Islam, security.
Without changing the fundamentals of the extreme right, according to observers, the candidate of the National Group (RN) preferred to try to capitalize on the popular classes' discontent with the politics of her rival from La República en Marcha (LREM).
The most radical issues of the far right were left to the debater Eric Zemmour, who with his explosive statements against immigrants and Muslims dominated part of the campaign, putting Le Pen and right-wing candidate Valérie Pécresse in difficulty.
The president, who was late in the campaign for the management of the pandemic and his attempt to mediate between Kiev and Moscow, warned in the final stretch against the “extremist danger”. Experts doubt whether the sanitary cordon around the far right will work as in 2017 and 2022.
For the director of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, Gilles Finchelstein, the traditional “republican front” of parties will not be enough to isolate Le Pen in the second round, because, although this system has not disappeared, it is worn out.
Socialist candidates Anne Hidalgo, environmentalist Yannick Jadot and communist Fabien Roussel have already said that they will call for a vote against the far right if Le Pen goes to balotage. Valérie Pécresse of the Republicans (LR) party will not give a vote slogan instead.
The result of the election will be closely followed around the world, because an eventual Le Pen victory could deal a further setback to the European Union (EU) and the international alliances of this economic and nuclear power.
In France, the focus will also be on the scope of the long-awaited debacle of traditional parties: the right wing of former Presidents Chirac (1995-2007) and Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012) and the socialists of François Hollande (2012-2017) and François Mitterrand (1981-1995).
(With information from AFP)
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