Macron faces far-right challenge as voting takes place in French presidential election

Emmanuel Macron was seen voting in northern France today as he fights to retain the presidency amid a last-minute surge in popularity for the far right.

Mr Macron, 44, cast his ballot in Le Touquet, near his second home, alongside his wife Brigitte on Sunday, as his main contender Marine Le Pen did the same in her Pas-de-Calais constituency.

Ms Le Pen, 53, is posing an unexpected threat to President Macron‘s administration after he started his campaign later, choosing to focus instead on the crisis in Ukraine.

Despite being far ahead of her in the polls a month ago, the National Rally candidate has closed the gap considerably in recent weeks, appealing to voters concerned by the cost of living crisis.

Le Pen in margin of error for first time

Several polls now say that after two unsuccessful attempts at the Elysee Palace, she falls within the margin of error for victory for the first time.

The first round of voting, with a choice of 12 candidates, began at 8am local time (7am UK time) and ends at 8pm local time (7pm UK time), at which point the first exit polls will be published. Midday figures put turnout at just 25.48%.

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When are the French presidential elections, who is running, and how do they work?

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Some French nationals living abroad in the US and Canada have already cast their votes.

When are the French presidential elections, who is running, and how do they work?

Outcome wide open

Commentators have put Mr Macron’s dip in the ratings down to his late entry to the presidential race, an unpopular decision to increase the retirement age, and criticism over his negotiations with Vladimir Putin.

Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki compared the French president’s phone calls with Mr Putin to negotiating with Adolf Hitler.

In response, Mr Macron called the eastern European leader a “far-right antisemite who bans LGBT persons”.

Ms Le Pen, by contrast, has toned down her usual rhetoric on immigration and Islam’s place in French society, and has also benefited from a drop in support for her main far-right rival, former journalist Eric Zemmour.

“We are ready, and the French are with us,” Ms Le Pen told cheering supporters on Thursday, urging them to cast a ballot for her to deliver “the fair punishment which those who have governed us so badly deserve”.

Mr Macron, who has held office since 2017, said of Ms Le Pen: “Her fundamentals have not changed: it’s a racist programme that aims to divide society and is very brutal.”

Ms Le Pen rejects the allegations of racism.

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What happens next?

This is just the first round of voting, and assuming no candidates win more than 50% of the vote – which hasn’t happened since Charles de Gaulle’s re-election in 1965 – the top two candidates make it through to the next round.

It is this second run-off, currently scheduled for 24 April, that will decide who becomes president. The two contenders are widely expected to be Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen.

However, the president does face a potential problem in the second vote, as many left-wing voters have told pollsters that, unlike in 2017, they will not vote for him purely to keep Ms Le Pen out of power.

“Marine Le Pen has never been this close to winning a presidential election,” Jean-Daniel Levy, of Harris Interactive pollsters, said of Ms Le Pen’s third run at the Elysee Palace.

Supporters of hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, running third according to opinion polls, have called on left-wing voters to switch to their candidate and send him into the run-off.

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