Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Thir13en, May 7, 2017.
Polls have opened in the French presidential run-off election between Emmanuel Macron of En March and far-right leader Marine Le Pen after a tumultuous campaign filled with scandal and surprises.
Some 67,000 polling stations across mainland France will be under the watch of 50,000 security forces guarding against extremist attacks.
Security is a prime concern in the wake of a series of militant attacks in Paris, Nice and elsewhere in the past few years.
Polling agency projections and initial official results are expected as soon as the final stations close at 8:00pm local time (4:00am AEST).
Opinion polls indicate French voters will pick Mr Macron, a 39-year-old ex-economy minister who wants to bridge the left-right divide, resisting an anti-establishment tide that has seen Britons vote to leave the EU and Americans choose Donald Trump as US president.
Mr Macron, who wants to deregulate the economy and deepen EU integration, has a 23 to 26 percentage point lead over Ms Le Pen in the opinion polls.
The campaign ended on Friday with a hacking attack and document leak targeting Mr Macron.
France's government cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, is investigating the hack, which Mr Macron's team says was aimed at destabilising the vote.
En Marche said the documents released online only showed the normal functioning of a presidential campaign, but authentic documents had been mixed on social media with "false documents" to sow "doubt and misinformation".
Ms Le Pen, who wants to close borders, ditch the euro currency and clamp down on migration, is nevertheless closer to elected power than the far right has ever been in Western Europe since World War II.
Even if opinion polls prove accurate and France elects its youngest president rather than its first female leader, Mr Macron has admitted he expects no honeymoon period.
Emmanuel Macron is now the favourite to become the next president of France, but for Marine Le Pen, even a loss will represent a victory of sorts, writes Lisa Millar.
Abstention could be high, and close to 60 per cent of those who plan to vote for Mr Macron say they will do so to stop Ms Le Pen from being elected rather than because they fully agree with the former banker-turned-politician.
"The expected victory … wouldn't be a blank cheque for Emmanuel Macron," Odoxa pollsters said in a note.
"A huge majority will not be backing him wholeheartedly."
The election will not end the battle between mainstream and more radical policies in France, with parliamentary elections next month equally crucial.
Macron is well ahead by all polling so lets see if that holds up. The established politics are behind him and Le Pen is quite the edgy right wing option that has always been a real nice element in France. That brand of 'populism' has died down a bit in several areas.
Macron is the French version of Trudeau.
This effete manlet may look like a complete p----, but he’s a nasty little globalist.
Exit polls have Macron around the 65% mark.
Already called for Macron. EU dogged​ a bullet there. Of course this guy has zero political experience too, so could still be interesting.
Macron wants the EU to reform, about as much chance of that happening as Islam to have a reformation.
Another far right defeat in mainland Europe, not quite the domino effect they'd planned.
Gallbladder and Watain like this.
The French are pretty disgusting for the most part anyway, not too surprising they were degenerate enough to vote for a man who married his sexual abuser who is 25 years his senior. Europe's w---- house.
Lots of alt-right lamers ITT.