Live: France votes in first-round of presidential election
French voters took to the polls on Sunday in what's expected to be a tight race for the 12 presidential candidates.
This first round of the highly anticipated contest for leadership of Europe's second-largest economy will determine which two candidates make it to the next election on 24 April.
Turnout was at 65% at 5:00 pm CET, several points lower than what it was at that time in the last election in 2017.
Each potential candidate in the election had to get 500 signatures from mayors or local politicians to support their bid for France's top job with France's constitutional council published a final list of candidates on 7 March.
The official campaign then began on 28 March, with French media, including Euronews, having to adhere to rules about giving equal airtime to each candidate.
The two candidates with the most votes in the first round of the election on 10 April will then go head-to-head in a second-round a fortnight later.
That's unless a first-round candidate obtains more than 50% of the vote share. No one has ever done this.Read more about how the election works and why it's important here.
French voters go to the polls on 10 and 24 April to choose a new president - but who is in the running to unseat Emmanuel Macron?Key issues dominating the campaign so far include work, the cost of living — a debate ignited by the 2018 "gilets jaunes" protests —, the environment, immigration and security, especially after Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February.Here's a look at the 12 candidates running in the first round of the election.
Hello, I'm Lauren Chadwick, a reporter at Euronews, and I'll be covering the French elections live tonight until 2:00 am CET. Follow here for updates on the first round of the election as we
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