French vote in nailbiter election
Turnout high in first round of presidential poll, outcome could define future of EU
France voted on Sunday in the first round of a bitterly fought presidential election that could define the future of the European Union, and is sure to be seen as a gauge of the anti-establishment anger that has brought upsets in Western politics.
Over 50,000 police and 7,000 soldiers backed by rapid response units patrolled streets three days after a suspected Islamist gunman shot dead a policeman and wounded two others in the heart of the capital, Paris.
Voters will decide whether to back a pro-eu centrist newcomer, a scandal-ridden veteran conservative who wants to slash public expenditure, a far-left eurosceptic admirer of Fidel Castro, or a far-right nationalist who, as France’s first woman president, would shut borders and ditch the euro.
The last polling stations were due to close at 8 pm, and projections were likely to give early pointers to the outcome soon after.
The outcome will show whether the populist tide that saw Britain vote to leave the EU and Donald Trump elected president of the United States is still rising, or starting to ebb.
But it also provides a choice between radically different recipes for reviving a listless economy that lags its neighbours, and where almost a quarter of under-25s have no job.
A high level of indecision added to the nervousness.
Hanan Fanidi, a 33-year-old financial project manager, was still unsure as she arrived at a polling station in Paris’s 18th arrondissement.
“I don’t believe in anyone, actually. I haven’t arrived at any candidate in particular who could advance things,” she said. “I’m very, very pessimistic.”
Despite fears that broad disillusionment with politics could keep voters away, pollsters estimated that the turnout, in fair weather nationwide, would be broadly in line with the last election five years ago, at around 80 percent.
Emmanuel Macron, 39, a centrist ex-banker, is the opinion polls’ favourite to win the first round and then beat far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen in the two-person runoff on May 7.
The two other candidates close enough in opinion polls to be in with a good chance of making the runoff are far left Jean-luc Melenchon and conservative Francois Fillon.
The turnout at 5 pm was 69.42%, according to official figures, compared to 70.59% in 2012.
Pollsters say jobs, the economy and and the general trustworthiness of politicians are voters’ main concerns.
But security has re-entered the debate since Thursday’s killing of a policeman on the Avenue des Champs-elysees, and the arrest in Marseille on Tuesday of two men suspected of planning an imminent Islamist attack.