France Holds Presidential Vote Overseas
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Early voting has begun overseas in France's most nail-biting election in generations, and the 11 candidates seeking to become the country's next president silenced their campaigns as required to give voters a period of reflection.
France's 10 percent unemployment, its lackluster economy and security issues top voters' concerns amid the presidential poll.
Opinion polls showed a tight race among the four top contenders vying to get into the May presidential 7 runoff that will decide who becomes France's next head of state.
But the polls also showed that decision was largely in the hands of the one-in-three French voters, who are still undecided, AAP reported.
Polls opened in France's far-flung overseas territories but won't start until Sunday on the French mainland. France's 10 per cent unemployment, its lacklustre economy and security issues top voters' concerns.
Political campaigning was banned from midnight Friday until the polls close at 8pm on Sunday.
Polls suggested that far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, an independent centrist and former economy minister, were in the lead.
However, conservative Francois Fillon, a former prime minister whose campaign was initially derailed by corruption allegations that his wife was paid for no-show work as his aide, appeared to be closing the gap, as was far-leftist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon.
Security was tight - the government has mobilized more than 50,000 police and gendarmes to protect 70,000 polling stations, with an additional 7,000 soldiers on patrol.
Security is a prominent issue after a wave of extremist attacks on French soil, including a gunman who killed a Paris police officer on Thursday night before being shot dead by security forces. The gunman carried a note praising the Daesh (also known as ISIL or ISIS) group.
Voters made their choices in the Atlantic Ocean territories of Saint Pierre and Miquelon as well as in French Guiana in South America, the Caribbean's Guadeloupe and elsewhere. Voters abroad could also cast ballots in French embassies on Saturday.
The mad-dash campaigning of the last few weeks came to an abrupt halt after the Champs-Elysees gun attack by 39-year-old Karim Cheurfi.
Three suspects close to the attacker remain in custody, Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre of the Paris prosecutor's office said Saturday.
Le Pen and Fillon cancelled their last campaign events on Friday over security concerns. Macron did too, but also accused his rivals of trying to capitalize on the attack with their anti-immigration, tough-on-security messages.
In a sign of how tense the country is, a man holding a knife caused widespread panic on Saturday at Paris' Gare du Nord train station. He was arrested and no one was hurt.
