France goes to the elections while the race between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen is getting narrower

France voted on Sunday in the first round of a presidential election, which is expected to lead to a repelolation between the reigning Emmanuel Macron and the right-wing extremist driver Marine Le Pen, who will be much closer than her duel five years ago.

The elections on the French mainland were opened this morning after an unusual campaign, which was overshadowed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and warned of the analyst that it could lead to unpredictable results, with the turnout being an important factor.

The French overseas areas voted on Saturday to take into account the time shift, starting with the tiny island of Saint Pierre and Miquelon off the coast of Canada, then over areas in the Caribbean, followed by the French Pacific Islands.

"It is important to choose, then you choose between good and evil. Finally, the president will determine her life," said Annette Thariki, a 57-year-old voter in French-Polynesia.

Surveys predict that Macron Le Pen will lead to a handful of percentage points in round one, with the first two places will enter a second round on April 24th.

The left-wing extremist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon is in third place on their heels and still pays off his chances of achieving the second round at the expense of Le Pen or even-which would be an extraordinary surprise-by President Macron himself.

Although her opponents are accusing her of being an extremist who wants to split society, Le Pen tried to show a more moderate image during the election campaign and to take care of the daily worries of voters like increasing prices.

Macron, on the other hand, led relatively little election campaign and, according to his own information, later entered the election campaign due to the war in Ukraine when he would have liked it.

French television channels will radiate recruitment of the final results that are generally very precise as soon as the polling stations close on Sunday at 6 p.m.

When Macron and Le Pen achieve the second round as forecast, analysts predict that their duel will be far more closer than in 2017 when the current president defeated his rival with 66 percent of the vote.

"There is uncertainty," said French political scientist Pascal Perrineau and referred to a unprecedented number of voters who were still undecided during the election campaign, as well as to letter voters.

Analysts fear that the record of 28.4 percent in the number of French voters who boycott a first ballot could be undercut from 2002, whereby the absence rate of 22.2 percent from 2017 could be exceeded. Around 48.7 million voters are registered throughout France to take part in this election.

The use of the election is high for Macron, who at the age of 39, as the youngest president of France, came to power with the promise to shake the country.

He would be the first French president since Jacques Chirac in 2002, who would win a second term and thus consolidate a place in the history of the country.

If he wins, he would have a five -year mandate to enforce his reform vision, which would include an increase in the retirement age against the anger of the unions.

Even after the departure of Chancellor Angela Merkel, he wants to consolidate his position as the undisputed number one in Europe.

A LE-Pen victory would be considered a triumph of right-wing populism and shaken Europe and the markets.

For his European supporters, Macron is a centrist bulwark against populism, especially after the elections of the right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Serbian leader Aleksandar Vucic last weekend, which are both kindly connected.

The candidates of the traditional parties of France, the right republican and the left socialists are facing a debacle on the election night and thus continuing a shock to French politics that started with Macron's takeover.

The Greens candidate, Yannick Jadot, the Republican Valerie Pecresse and the weakening socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo, seem to be excluded in the first round.

The right-wing extremist former TV expert Eric Zemmour had an impressive introduction to the campaign last year, but has lost ground since then, and said analysts that he actually helped Le Pen by making it more moderate.

A lot of attention is already pointed to the second round and the question of who will win the back of the defeated round hopes.

Analysts doubt that Macron would enjoy the same support from a broad anti-right coalition of the "Republican Front", which he helped him in 2017 and which made it possible Jacques Chirac in 2002 to demolish Marine Le Pen Father Jean-Marie.

"The Republican front has not been what it once had been for some time," the director of the Jean Jaures Foundation, Gilles Finchelstein, told AFP.