Polls tight in France's most uncertain election in decades

Record ID: 645173

  • Title: Polls tight in France's most uncertain election in decades
  • Date: 18th April 2017
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (APRIL 18, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) HEAD OF POLLSTER POLLINGVOX, JEROME SAINTE-MARIE, SAYING: "We don't know at the moment who will make it through to the second round. But the polls for the second round show that Marine Le Pen would be beaten by any other candidate, whether that's Macron, Fillon or even Jean-Luc Melenchon." SAINTE-MARIE'S EYES (SOUNDBITE) (French) HEAD OF POLLSTER POLLINGVOX, JEROME SAINTE-MARIE, SAYING: "I can confirm that it's the most uncertain election that I've seen in my almost 30-year career. We don't know who will make it through to the second round, and so who will be elected president."
  • Embargoed: 2nd May 2017 16:10
  • Keywords: France election poll Macron Melenchon Le Pen Fillon voting
  • Location: RUNGIS, NICE AND PARIS, FRANCE
  • City: RUNGIS, NICE AND PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA0046CXFQDJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Only a handful of points separated the top four candidates in opinion polls on Tuesday (April 18) for France's presidential election, making it the most uncertain in decades.
    The latest Opinionway-Opri poll published for Les Echos and Radio Classique published at lunchtime saw centrist Emmanuel Macron leading the pack for the first round on Sunday (April 23) with 23 percent, with the far-right's Marine Le Pen on 22 percent and conservative Francois Fillon on 20 percent.
    Such a tight gap will unsettle Le Pen and Macron who have looked most likely to progress to the run-off on May 7 which will decide the presidency.
    All polls show Le Pen making the second round but none have shown her winning, beaten by any of her rivals including the hard left's Jean-Luc Melenchon.
    Such figures put the polling within the margin of error and mean that "anything's possible" according to the head of PollingVox Jerome Sainte-Marie, who said the election is the most uncertain of his career.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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