French
voters went to the polls Sunday to pick a new president, choosing between young
centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a watershed
election for the country and Europe.
Polling day
follows an unprecedented campaign marked by scandal, repeated surprises and a
last-minute hacking attack on Macron, a 39-year-old who has never held elected
office.
The run-off
vote pits the pro-Europe, pro-business Macron against anti-immigration and
anti-EU Le Pen, two radically different visions that underline a split in
Western democracies.
Le Pen, 48,
has portrayed the ballot as a contest between the "globalists"
represented by her rival -- those in favour of open trade, immigration and
shared sovereignty -- versus the "nationalists" who defend strong
borders and national identities.
Voting began
at 0600 GMT in 66,546 polling stations. Most will close at 1700 GMT, but those
in big cities will stay open an hour longer.
A first
estimate of the results will be published around 1800 GMT.
"Today,
France is at stake," a 73-year-old voter said as she cast her ballot in
the southern port city of Marseille.
"It's
especially important for my children, and the future of my three
grandchildren," said the pensioner, who gave her name only as Bernadette.
Outgoing
Socialist President Francois Hollande, who decided in December against seeking
re-election, cast his ballot in his former electoral fief of Tulle, in central
France.
Hollande,
who plucked Macron from virtual obscurity to name him economy minister in 2014,
said Friday he was hoping for his former protege to garner "the biggest
possible score" on Sunday.
The last
polling showed Macron -- winner of last month's election first round -- with a
widening lead of around 62 percent to 38 percent before the hacking revelations
on Friday evening. A campaigning blackout entered into force shortly after.
Hundreds of
thousands of emails and documents stolen from the Macron campaign were dumped
online and then spread by anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, leading the candidate
to call it an attempt at "democratic destabilisation."
France's
election authority said publishing the documents could be a criminal offence, a
warning heeded by traditional media organisations but flouted by Macron's opponents
and far-right activists online.
"We
knew that there were these risks during the presidential campaign because it
happened elsewhere. Nothing will go without a response," Hollande told AFP
on Saturday.
- Winds of
change -
US
intelligence agencies believe state-backed Russian operatives were behind a
massive hacking attack on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign ahead
of America's presidential election last November.
There has
been no claim of responsibility for the French hack, but the government and
Macron's team previously accused the Kremlin of trying to meddle in the
election -- accusations denied in Moscow.
Whoever wins
Sunday's vote it is set to cause profound change for France, the world's
sixth-biggest economy, a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a
global military power.
It is the
first time neither of the country's traditional parties has a candidate in the
final round of the presidential election under the modern French republic,
founded in 1958.
Macron would
be France's youngest-ever president and was a virtual unknown before his
two-year stint as economy minister, the launchpad for his sensational
presidential bid.
He left the
Socialist government in August and formed En Marche! (On the Move), a political
movement he says is neither of the left nor the right and which has attracted
250,000 members.
The
ex-investment banker campaigned on pledges to cut state spending, ease labour
laws, boost education in deprived areas and extend new protections to the
self-employed.
He is also
fervently pro-European and wants to re-energise the 28-member European Union,
following Britain's referendum vote last summer to leave.
"France
is not a closed country. We are in Europe and in the world," Macron said
during an acrimonious final debate between the two candidates on Wednesday.
But Le Pen
is hoping to spring a shock that would resonate as widely as Britain's decision
to withdraw from the EU or the unexpected triumph of US President Donald Trump.
- First-round
winners -
National
Front leader Le Pen sees herself as part of the same backlash against
globalisation that has emerged as a powerful theme in the US and in recent
ballots in Britain, Austria and the Netherlands.
She has
pledged to organise a referendum on withdrawing France from the EU and wants to
scrap the euro, which she has dubbed a "currency of bankers."
She has also
vowed to reduce net immigration to 10,000 people a year, crack down on
outsourcing by multinationals, lower the retirement age and introduce hardline
measures to tackle Islamic extremists.
Many voters
still see her party as anti-Semitic and racist despite her six-year drive to
improve its image.
Macron
topped the first round of the presidential election on April 23 with 24.01
percent, followed by Le Pen on 21.30 percent, in a crowded field of 11
candidates.
The results
revealed Macron was favoured among wealthier, better educated citizens in
cities, while Le Pen drew support in the countryside as well as poverty-hit
areas in the south and rustbelt northeast.
Voting for
the run-off started for French voters in north America and some overseas
territories on Saturday.
AFP.
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