Most polls will close at 7 p.m. — while polls in some urban areas will remain open until 8 p.m. (2 p.m. Four of 11 candidates stand a chance of reaching the May 7th run-off in the race to succeed François Hollande as president: the centrist Emmanuel Macron, the extreme right-wing leader Marine Le Pen, the conservative François Fillon and the far left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon. However, conservative Francois 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 Melenchon. Polls opened in the morning for France’s 47 million registered voters under tightened security, with the country still jittery just two days after the attack on a police bus in the heart of Paris, which left one officer dead. Political campaigning is banned from Saturday across France, and online, as voters in far-flung areas such as French Polynesia, Guiana, Guadeloupe cast ballots for one of the 11 candidates.
The campaign period officially ends. French citizens living overseas begin voting a day ahead of when the polls open in France. Final opinion polling gives Emmanuel Macron a slight lead over Marine Le Pen. François Fillon and Jean-Luc Mélenchon are close behind.