The French people are choosing today between Centrist, Emmanuel Macron and the Front National’s, Marine Le Pen.
Both candidates went through to the second round two weeks ago.
Some key things to look out for this evening
Results will be in at 7pm our time.
An exit poll will be published by the main networks projecting a winner, these polls are normally very accurate and over the past number of elections they have got the result to within 1% of the final outcome.
Turnout is typically very high in France, averaging around 80% and with voters backing Far Left candidates opting to not vote for either Macron or Le Pen, the abstention rate should be a bit higher than previous elections.
Macron has led Len Pen with a margin of 18-22% since the first round. It is a general consensus amongst French pundits that Le Pen squandered an opportunity during Wednesdays debate and this has halted the momentum that her campaign was garnering.
Will Le Pen get over 40%? Her father achieved just 18% of the vote in 2002, so if he more than doubles her fathers support, it will be less of a disappointment for the Front National as they look towards 2022. If she gets less than 40%, expect tensions to emerge within the FN as rivals to Marine begin looking for their chance to run for President.
If you want to watch the election results in English, France 24 is the best network and the live stream is below
David McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs
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