Presidential hopefuls in last days of campaign before first vote

The candidates for France’s presidency are embarking on a final week of campaigning before Sunday’s first round of voting whittles the field down to two.

Four out of the 11 declared runners are serious contenders for the two berths in the May 7 run-off which will decide who replaces Francois Hollande in the Elysee Palace, polls suggest.

But the candidate for Mr Hollande’s Socialist Party, Benoit Hamon, appears to have little chance of retaining office for the governing party amid a surge in support for the far-right, hard left and the new centrist movement founded by his former colleague Emmanuel Macron.

Meanwhile, the conservative Gaullist movement now known as Les Republicains is still competitive despite the “fake jobs” row engulfing its candidate, Francois Fillon and his Welsh wife Penelope.

While Mr Hamon is posting single digit scores in polls, the four heavyweight candidates are between 18% and 25% in predictions for the first round, making it a wide-open race.

The far-right’s Marine Le Pen and Mr Macron lead the field but only narrowly from Mr Fillon and leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Ms Le Pen has been tipped to reach the second round in virtually all the polls but the same data indicate she would lose to whoever she faced in the decider.

However, no candidate can take their place in the second round for granted with the polls so close and volatile.

Mr Hollande decided not to seek a second term after five years marked by terror attacks which killed hundreds in Paris and Nice, forcing him to declare a state of emergency.