Electoral sociology began in mainland France for the second round of the presidential election, in which voters will choose to give Emmanuel Macron another five years in power or choose Marin Le Pen.
Macron is the favorite to win, but every second term will be determined by whether he ends up with a convincing victory. Both he and Le Pen have to convince almost 50% of voters who did not choose any of them in the first round two weeks ago.
The level of abstentions and the number of people protesting to vote by casting a blank ballot, as promised by many supporters of the “third man” Jean-Luc Melanchon from the radical left, could affect the outcome.
Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, the mayor of Le Havre, was one of the first to vote in the local polling station. Macron will vote in Le Touquet, where he and his wife Brigitte have a home. Le Pen will vote in Hénin-Beaumont, in the heart of her fortress in northern France. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris and a Socialist Party presidential candidate who is behind in the first round, voted in Paris 45 minutes after the polls opened. Valerie Pecres, a candidate for the conservative Les Républicains, voted shortly afterwards.
Polling stations close at 7pm in most of mainland France and 8pm in major cities. An evaluation of the result based on the count of a number of specific polling stations selected as representative for France will be announced at 20:00. Although this is only an estimate, it is usually a reliable indication of who has won, unless it is too close to a stake and within error.
Due to the time difference, the overseas territories of France began voting on Saturday.
The campaign officially ended at midnight on Friday, when all opinion polls were suspended and candidates have been obliged to guard themselves ever since.
Macron’s program includes a ceiling on fuel prices, indexation of pensions and a progressive increase in the retirement age to 65. He is also campaigning for a stronger Europe.
Le Pen has promised to reduce the retirement age from 62 to 60 for those who started work before the age of 20, reducing VAT on fuel from 20% to 5.5% and a new law that allows French citizens to have priority for housing, work and benefits as well as the deportation of illegal immigrants.
Macron and Le Pen won seats in the second round two weeks ago when he garnered just under 9.8 million votes – 27.85% of the vote – and she received 8.13 million votes – 23.15% of the vote. Melanchon came close to third with 7.7 million votes, 420,000 less than Le Pen. Candidates for the main right and left both fell behind with Pecres in fifth place and Hidalgo in 10th place; both respondents are below 5%, which means that they will not be reimbursed for the campaign.
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