Voting started in overseas territories yesterday for France's hotly contested presidential election that heralds the transfer of power to a new generation of political leaders.
With right winger Nicolas Sarkozy still leading socialist Segolene Royal in final opinion polls before a campaign ban came into effect, all 12 candidates are nervously waiting to see how the millions of undecided voters cast their polls.
A day ahead of the vote in mainland France, the tiny islands of St Pierre and Miquelon off Canada's Atlantic coast -- home to just 5,000 registered voters -- kicked off the election.
Citizens of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana -- as well as expatriates across the Americas -- were to follow during the day.
In mainland France, official campaigning stopped at midnight on Friday when a ban came into force preventing media from publishing opinion polls and statements from the 12 candidates.
After a day meant for reflection, polling booths open at 8am today and close 12 hours later when the first projections were due.
The two front-runners from the ballot qualify for a decisive second round on May 6 -- the system having been devised so that presidents are elected with more than half the vote.
The four leading contenders held their last rallies on Thursday, appealing to the third of the 44.5 million voters that pollsters say are still undecided.
For the last month polls have consistently given a clear first round lead to Sarkozy, the former interior minister who heads the ruling Union for a Popular Movement.
Royal, 53, has been in second place followed by Union for French Democracy candidate Francois Bayrou, 55, and the 78 year-old ultraconservative nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen -- but the gap separating them has varied widely and speculation has centered on who will join Sarkozy in the second round.
Speaking late on Friday in Rouen, Bayrou repeated his claim to be the only candidate capable of beating Sarkozy in the run-off.
"This is very important, and very positive. It answers the question that all those undecided voters are asking: What is the most effective vote for ensuring things change?" he said.
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