In cities and villages, small towns and suburbs, young and old are voting on Sunday in one of France’s most important presidential elections in memory, with the starkest of choices.
On
one side, the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen was expected to do
better in rural areas and in strongholds of her National Front party,
such as in the southeast near Nice and the economically stressed far
north, around Lille.
Her
challenger, Emmanuel Macron, a onetime economy minister and investment
banker, is expected to be the choice of many urban, educated voters, and
is heavily favored in Paris. Voting began earlier in overseas
territories and for French natives living abroad.
Together,
the two outsider candidates received less than 50 percent of the votes
in the first round of the election, on April 23. Some French voters were
expected to shun the polls or submit “blank” ballots after an
especially divisive campaign.