- Title: Uncertainty remains high five days before French presidential election
- Date: 18th April 2017
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (APRIL 18, 2017) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING PAST POSTERS OF FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ON METAL BOARDS IN STREET BOARD WITH POSTERS READING (French): "No fascists in our neighbourhoods" POSTERS OF CANDIDATES ON BOARDS POSTER OF FRENCH SOCIALIST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, BENOIT HAMON WOMAN LOOKING AT POSTERS PEOPLE WALKING PAST CAFE IN STREET PEOPLE BUYING FRUIT IN MARKET MAN BUYING FRUIT (SOUNDBITE) (French) JOURNALIST AND SUPPORTER OF INDEPENDENT CENTRIST FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, EMMANUEL MACRON, THOMAS GUELLER, SAYING: "I am lucky to have a candidate who satisfies me enough for me to vote in support rather than in rejection. I think there will be many rejection votes because there are many candidates who inspire, well, rejection, quite simply." WOMAN PICKING UP SHOPPING BAGS VENDOR BEHIND STALL (SOUNDBITE) (French) BUSINESSMAN WHO WILL VOTE AGAINST ANTI-EU CANDIDATES, NICOLAS DEMELIAC, SAYING: "It will only be political calculation, because there are people who I have no desire to see, and there are policies that I have no desire to see, so there you go. I will vote only according to that, and not at all according to the candidates or their performances." PEOPLE AT FRUIT STALLS SIGN SHOWING PRICE OF CARROTS (SOUNDBITE) (French) HOME NURSE, HELENE ROC'H, SAYING: "For the moment, I find it's total chaos and it's rather discouraging to have to vote on Sunday because I still don't know who I will vote for, it's rather hopeless in that sense." MAN BUYING PRODUCE AT VEGETABLE STALL PEOPLE WALKING PAST POSTERS OF CANDIDATES
- Embargoed: 2nd May 2017 12:10
- Keywords: French presidential election candidates posters uncertainty Paris market
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA0016CXENNR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Uncertainty levels remain high among voters in France with less than a week to go before the first round of the most unpredictable French presidential election in decades.
With indecision a major factor, polls show the race is so tight between the top four candidates that each has a chance of making the two-person run-off vote - therefore presenting no fewer than six second round scenarios.
French voters passing through a central Parisian market on Tuesday (April 18) told Reuters TV that either they were still undecided as to who to vote for, or that they felt forced to vote strategically to block certain candidates from becoming their next president instead of voting out of real conviction.
Judging from history, turnout will be the key variable. In past elections, the higher the abstention rate in the first round of voting, the lower the hurdle candidates had to clear in order to qualify.
Polls have consistently suggested centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen will score highest in the first round with about 22-24 percent of the vote each - and thereby qualify for the run-off second round.
But conservative Francois Fillon and hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon are not far behind, touching 20 percent in some polls, putting both in striking distance of qualifying when taking margins of error into account.
Polls have consistently suggested that the turnout will be low. An Elabe poll on Monday found that only 68 percent of those surveyed were certain to vote. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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