The first round of the French presidential election began today. The main confrontation, according to Reuters, will be between incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
Voting began at 8 a.m. local time and will end at 6 p.m. when the first exit polls are released.
According to opinion polls, Macron, thanks to his active diplomacy on Ukraine, a strong economic recovery and the weakness of a fractured opposition, should have won "an easy victory." Nevertheless, a late start to the campaign and a plan to raise the retirement age undermined the president's ratings, along with a sharp rise in inflation.
Meanwhile, anti-immigration, Euroskeptic far-right Le Pen confidently campaigned, focusing on the cost of living.
Provided Macron and Le Pen go together in the second round, the incumbent will face a problem: polls have shown that leftist voters will not vote for Macron in the second round only to prevent the far-right candidate from taking power. So Macron will have to convince them to vote for himself in the second round.
Voting on Sunday should show who the majority of the French, who are still undecided, will choose and whether Le Pen will be able to beat the predictions of the opinion poll and come out on top in the first round.
According to the Ipsos Sopra Steria Cevipof poll, Macron will beat Marine Le Pen in the country's presidential election, although Le Pen's position has been strengthening in recent weeks.
