France votes in presidential election amid high security

France votes in presidential election amid high security

April 24, 2017
French presidential election candidate for the far-right Front National party Marine Le Pen leaves a polling booth to vote at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, north-western France, on Sunday, during the first round of the presidential election. — AFP
French presidential election candidate for the far-right Front National party Marine Le Pen leaves a polling booth to vote at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, north-western France, on Sunday, during the first round of the presidential election. — AFP

PARIS — France voted on Sunday under heavy security in the first round of the most unpredictable presidential election in decades, with the outcome seen as vital for the future of the beleaguered European Union.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron are the favorites to progress to a run-off on May 7 but the result is too close to call in a deeply divided country.

Le Pen, the 48-year-old leader of the National Front (FN), hopes to capitalize on security fears that were catapulted to the fore of the campaign after the fatal shooting of a policeman on Paris’s Champs Elysees avenue claimed by Daesh (the so-called IS).

Aiming to ride a wave of populism that carried Donald Trump to the White House and led Britain to vote for Brexit, Le Pen wants France to abandon the euro and intends to call a referendum on withdrawing from the EU as well.

Observers predict that a Le Pen victory could be a fatal blow for the EU, already weakened by Britain’s vote to leave.

Macron, 39, is seeking to become France’s youngest ever president and has campaigned on a strongly pro-EU and pro-business platform.

Seeking to benefit from a worldwide move away from established political parties, the former banker and economy minister formed his own movement, “En Marche” (“On the Move“), that he says is “neither to the left nor to the right.”

But polls show scandal-tainted conservative candidate Francois Fillon, a former prime minister, and hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon are also in with a fighting chance of finishing among the top two candidates and reaching the all-important second round.

Le Pen cast her ballot in Henin-Beaumont, a former coal mining town in northern France that has an FN mayor.

Macron voted in the chic Normandy seaside resort of Le Touquet with wife Brigitte, his former high school teacher who is 25 years his senior.

Four hours after voting stations opened, turnout was up slightly on the figure at the same stage in 2012, suggesting it could beat the final figure of 79.48 percent in that election.

Nearly 47 million people are eligible to vote and most polling stations will close at 1700 GMT with those in major cities shutting an hour later. First projected results are expected shortly afterward.

In the wake of the policeman’s killing on Thursday, 50,000 police and 7,000 soldiers have been deployed around France to protect voters. The terror attack was the latest in a bloody series have cost more than 230 lives since 2015.

Guy Belkechout, a 79-year-old pensioner who was voting in the working-class Parisian suburb of Trappes, said he was concerned.

“Security issues have influenced me after the attacks. Candidates who want fewer security measures, who want to reduce the police’s powers, have not got my vote,” he said.

But Yanis Olive, a 35-year-old photographer voting in Paris, said security was not “a major issue” — unemployment and the economy were more important. — AFP


April 24, 2017
HIGHLIGHTS