Turnout dips but polls point to Macron victory
Whoever wins will open a new chapter in French politics after the old order that has ruled France for decades suffered humiliating first-round defeats
Paris/Brussels — French voters were choosing on Sunday between a young, pro-European Union centrist and a eurosceptic, anti-immigration far-rightist for their next president, with official figures and estimates indicating a low turnout. Opinion polls predicted that the 39-year-old former economy minister Emmanuel Macron would win the five-year presidency, seeing off the National Front’s Marine Le Pen after an election campaign full of scandal and upsets. Voting was not due to end until 8pm, but Belgian media published what they said were surveys taken on Sunday by four unnamed pollsters among people who had voted or intended to vote. The Belgian public broadcaster RTBF said the surveys put Macron’s share of the vote at between 62% and 67%. The information could not be verified. Pollsters are not allowed to publish election-day surveys in France before voting closes. But the reported surveys were broadly in line with the last opinion polls on Friday, and pre-election surveys proved a...
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