Voting begins today in France for president as uncertainty reigns

Tens of thousands of police protect polling stations

PARIS — Polling stations opened Saturday in France’s far-flung overseas territories for the country’s unpredictable presidential election as the 11 candidates in the race observed a ban on campaigning.

With voting beginning today on the French mainland, the government has mobilized more than 50,000 police and gendarmes to protect 70,000 polling stations, with an additional 7,000 soldiers on patrol.

France’s 10 per cent unemployment and its lacklustre economy top voters’ concerns as first-round ballots are cast this weekend in the most nail-biting French election in generations.

Opinion polls showed a tight race among the four top contenders vying to get into the May 7 presidential runoff that will decide who becomes France’s next head of state. But the polls also showed that decision was largely in the hands of the one-in-three voters who are still undecided.

A deadly attack on police Thursday night on Paris’ famed Champs-Élysées Avenue clouded the last days of campaigning. Security is a prominent issue after a wave of extremist attacks on French soil, including the gunman who killed a Paris police officer Thursday before being shot dead by security forces. The gunman carried a note praising the Islamic State group.

Political campaigning was banned until the polls close across France and online.

Polling centres opened in the Atlantic Ocean territories of Saint Pierre and Miquelon as well as French Guiana in South America, the Caribbean’s Guadeloupe and elsewhere. Voters abroad could also cast ballots in French embassies.

Polls suggested that far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, an independent centrist and former economy minister, were in the lead.

However, conservative François Fillon, a former prime minister whose campaign was initially derailed by corruption allegations that his wife was paid but did no work as his parliamentary aide, appeared to be closing the gap, as was far-leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

The mad-dash campaigning of the last few weeks came to an abrupt halt after the Champs-Élysées gun attack by 39-year-old Karim Cheurfi. Three suspects close to the attacker remain in custody, Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre of the Paris prosecutor’s office said Saturday.

Le Pen and Fillon cancelled their last campaign events Friday over security concerns. Macron did too, but also accused his rivals of trying to capitalize on the attack with their anti-immigration, toughon-security messages.

Well-wishers paid their respects Saturday at the site of the shooting, which was adorned with flowers, candles and messages of solidarity for the slain police officer, Xavier Jugelé. Across from the Eiffel Tower, women from the group Angry Wives of Law Enforcement demonstrated against violence aimed at police.

Some believed French stoicism would prevent a lurch to the right in the presidential vote, even though the attack dominated French headlines.

“These 48 hours are not going to change everything … terrorism is now an everyday occurrence. It’s permanent, 24 hours a day. So we’re not afraid. If we’re believers in freedom, we must live with it,” said Marise Moron, a retired doctor.

“I’m not going to let myself be influenced by people who are trying to frighten us,” Paris resident Anne-Marie Redouin said near the heavily-guarded Eiffel Tower.

Others, fearful that Le Pen has been strengthened by the instability, said they would shift their votes from fringe candidates to make sure to keep the far-right out of power. “With an attack such as this one, I think the National Front will get a good result. Therefore, I’ll change my intention and cast a useful vote — either Mélenchon or Macron,” said physics teacher Omar Ilys, 44.

When the French vote for president today, their choice will resonate far beyond France’s borders, from Syrian battlefields to Hong Kong trading floors and the halls of the UN Security Council.

The election is also widely being viewed as a ballot on the future of the 28-nation European Union. The far-right Le Pen and the far-left Mélenchon could pull France out of the bloc and its shared euro currency — a so-called “Frexit.”

A French exit could ignite a death spiral for the EU, the euro and the whole idea of European unity.