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Agence France-Presse

The race to be France’s next president culminates in Sunday’s run-off after a tense campaign with multiple twists and turns. Pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right Marine Le Pen emerged as the finalists in one of the most unpredictable contests for decades
Fillon’s upset victory
The first came in November when former conservative premier Francois Fillon pulled off a come-from-behind victory in the rightwing primary, defying pollsters who had for months predicted a win for Alain Juppe, 71.
Fillon’s upset was put down to strong performances in TV debates, as well as what was then a scandal-free image compared with Juppe and his other key rival, former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Hollande throws in towel
President Francois Hollande had staked his presidency on turning around France’s moribund economy, in particular on reining in an unemployment rate that has remained stuck at around 10 per cent throughout his five years in charge.
When the Socialist failed to do so and France also became a frequent target for jihadist attacks, his popularity ratings plunged to historic lows.
On December 1, he finally announced he would not stand for re-election.
Hong Kong’s French expats vote in presidential election, with signs most support Emmanuel Macron

‘Penelopegate’
By mid-January, the race for the presidency seemed to be a duel between Fillon and anti-immigration candidate Le Pen.
At the time, Macron, a former economy minister under Hollande who had quit to launch an independent centrist bid for the presidency, was just beginning to get traction in the race.
On January 25, the investigative newspaper Le Canard Enchaine dropped a bombshell with revelations Fillon had put his wife Penelope on the public payroll with little work to show. It would eventually lead to criminal charges being brought against Fillon for abuse of public funds.
His support never recovered and the 63-year-old finished third in the first round.
Macron, the man to beat
By early February, the 39-year-old Macron began polling better than Fillon in his bid to shake up French politics.
The former investment banker hoping to become France’s youngest postwar president was once dismissed as a flash in the pan but went on to consolidate his status as the man to beat.
The pro-business europhile began filling arenas, finding support from Socialists deserting their crumbling party as well as a broad array of people seeking new ideas.

Melenchon surges
Communist-backed firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon surged in the polls in the final weeks before the first round of voting on April 23.
The charismatic 65-year-old, who tapped into widespread disillusionment with the political class, bounded ahead after strong debate appearances and quirky campaign stunts using holograms.
He would eventually come in fourth just behind Fillon with 19.58 per cent of the vote.

Paris shooting
Just as candidates were making their final pitches to voters in a televised interview show on April 20, a gunman opened fire on police on the Champs Elysees, killing one officer before being shot dead himself. A note praising Islamic State was found near his body.
The killing forced the issue of security back into the race after nine months without a major attack.
First round surprise
Macron and Le Pen topped the voting in the first round, eliminating France’s main traditional parties at that stage for the first time since 1958.
The conservative Republicans blamed Fillon for his third-place finish, while the governing Socialists were left in crisis after their candidate Benoit Hamon came in a humiliating fifth.
Le Pen steals Macron’s thunder
When campaigning for the second round began, a picket line at a Whirlpool tumble-dryer factory in Macron’s northern hometown of Amiens was the scene of one of the election’s most dramatic moments.
Le Pen upstaged Macron by making a surprise whirlwind visit to the workers as Macron was meeting unions to discuss the plant’s future.
Macron arrived afterwards and was mobbed by the workers who initially booed him, but he eventually managed to turn the situation around and engage them in dialogue about the pros and cons of globalisation.

Vicious debate
The two then faced off in an often-vicious televised debate in which Le Pen branded the former economy minister “the candidate of the elite”.
Macron hit back, accusing her of being “the heir of a system which has prospered from the fury of the French people for decades” and adding: “You play with fear.”
He frequently branded Le Pen a liar and even a “parasite of the system”.
Massive hack attack on Macron
With less than 36 hours to go until the run-off vote, thousands of internal documents from Macron’s campaign were leaked online.
His team said hackers took the emails, accounting details and other records as part of a “massive and coordinated” effort aimed at influencing the vote’s outcome.
French authorities hit back hard, warning that anyone spreading the leaked information could be committing a crime.


France is voting for a new president.  Here are 10 defining moments from the rollercoaster election

Pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right Marine Le Pen are the finalists in one of the most unpredictable contests for decades. Photo: EPA

epaselect epa05918186 French Police officers react after a shooting in which two police officer were killed along with their attacker and another police officer wounded in a terror attack on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, 20 April 2017. Three police officers were shot on the avenue boulevard, according to reports with their suspected attacker killed by security forces. EPA/IAN LANGSDON

French President Francois Hollande arrives to visit the headquarters of "Patisserie Michel Kremer" bakery group in Argenton-sur-Creuse, central France, on May 5, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / GUILLAUME SOUVANT

TOPSHOT - (COMBO) A combination of video grabs from an AFP video taken on May 3, 2017 during a live brodcast televised debate in television studios of French public national television channel France 2, and French private channel TF1 in La Plaine-Saint-Denis, north of Paris, shows French presidential election candidate for the far-right Front National (FN) party, Marine Le Pen (L) and French presidential election candidate for the En Marche ! movement Emmanuel Macron talking during a face to face debate ahead of the second round of the French presidential election. Pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen face off in a final televised debate on May 3 that will showcase their starkly different visions of France's future ahead of this weekend's presidential election run-off. / AFP PHOTO / STRINGER

French presidential election candidate for the right-wing Les Republicains (LR) party Francois Fillon (L), with his wife Penelope Fillon (R), arrives for a debate organised by French private TV channel TF1 on March 20, 2017 in Aubervilliers, outside Paris. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Patrick KOVARIK

epa05773144 A hologram of the 2017 French presidential candidate for the far-left political party 'La France Insoumise' (Undefeated France), Jean-Luc Melenchon is displayed on stage as audience members look on, during a campaign rally in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, France, 05 February 2017. Melenchon is holding a presidential campaign rally in Lyon, while being retransmitted in front of a live audience in Paris as a hologram, for a first time in French political campaigning. EPA/IAN LANGSDON

Hong Kong’s French expats vote in presidential election, with signs most support Emmanuel Macron

Voters in Hong Kong lining up to cast their ballots in the second round of the French presidential election at a polling station inside the French International School on Sunday. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Hundreds of registered voters cast their vote during the second round of the French presidential election polling station at the French International School on Wong Ngai Chung Gap Road. 07MAY17 SCMP/ Jonathan Wong

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