French to the polls, exciting battle between Macron and Le Pen | Abroad

Two of the twelve advance to the deciding round on April 24. Macron is getting weaker and Le Pen better in recent polls.

Macron was confident and barely campaigned. But that looks set to make the second round potentially a precarious election day for the current president.

The loss of purchasing power due to rising inflation seems to be the main concern of French voters and a majority of French people see a very bleak future, according to polls. Le Pen presents himself with a focus on socio-economic ‘problems of the people’ as the polar opposite of the globalist Macron. For example, she wants to increase the salaries of the lowest income groups by 10 percent and significantly reduce the tax on petrol and electricity.

The big question in two weeks is what will the French voters do who did not vote for Macron or Le Pen on Sunday.

According to polls, the far left and far right together account for a quarter of all votes: the left-wing Jean-Luc Mélenchon with 16.5 percent and the far-right Eric Zemmour 8.5 percent. The center-right Republicans led by Valérie Pécresse appear to have 8.5 percent of voters behind them and environmentalist Yannick Jadot can count on 5.5 percent in the first round.

In the last French presidential election, five years ago, Macron and Le Pen also came out on top in the first round. Five years ago, Macron won 66 percent of the vote in the second round and Le Pen 34 percent.

Polling stations open at 8 a.m. and close at different times. Most at 7pm and in some cities an hour later. The first exit polls are expected at 8 p.m.

Watch the video about the exciting presidential elections in France here: