France election: Macron faces far-right challenge as France votes
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France election: Macron faces far-right challenge as France votes
Emmanuel Macron has a fight on his hands from far-right challenger Marine Le Pen, who has been galvanised by a slick election campaign.
Forty-nine million people are eligible to decide which two of 12 candidates should take part in the run-off vote.
But after four hours of voting, only a quarter of voters had turned out - the lowest for 20 years.
The campaign has been overshadowed first by the Covid-19 pandemic and then Russia's invasion. The president has spent little time on the race, focusing instead on Europe's reaction to the war in Ukraine.
However, one issue more than any other has predominated the election: the spiralling cost of living in energy bills and shopping baskets.
When he came to power with a new party in 2017, Emmanuel Macron swept away the old allegiances, and the two big parties are still nursing their wounds.
Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo has struggled to be heard, while on the right Valérie Pécresse has failed to excite the Republicans.
Now, the main challenge to Mr Macron, 44, is coming from Ms Le Pen on the far right and Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the far left.
Some are even predicting the president could lose.
'I still don't know who to vote for'
Voting began at 08:00 (06:00 GMT) in mainland France and ends in the big cities of Paris, Lyon and Marseille at 20:00 local time. What adds to the uncertainty is that days before the vote, one Ipsos opinion poll suggested 37% of people were still undecided.
"The campaign's been going on for two months and there hasn't been much debate," complains Ourdia, a café owner in north-west Paris. "I still don't know who to vote for."
The old tribal tradition of voting either for the left or right has gone. One market trader in Paris said he was yet to decide whether to vote for Marine Le Pen, 53, or 70-year-old Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
All up in the air
"The election race isn't over at all," said Brice Teinturier of polling institute Ipsos.
Turnout is key because the pollsters suggest as many as 28% of voters may not show - a level not seen for 20 years - and the least likely to bother are 25-34 year-olds. By midday turnout was three points down on five years ago, at 25.48%, but far higher than in 2002.
Then there are the so-called votes blancs - the ballots left blank as a protest.
Tactical voting may also play a part, if voters decide to back one of the favourites because they have more of a chance of winning than, for example, Greens candidate Yannick Jadot.
Cost of living crunch
The French economy is in decent shape and unemployment has fallen to 7.4%, but voters are not feeling the benefit.
That's because prices are going up across the board, at the shops, the market, the petrol pump and in domestic energy bills. The phrase you hear everywhere is pouvoir d'achat - which translates as spending power but is better known in English as the cost of living.