Marine Le Pen

The two candidates – Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron offer a vision for France and for Europe that could not be more different: to put it bluntly, the run off in France mirrors the political battle of our age between globalisation and nationalism.

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen say the elections are about the future of France and both candidates look to young people to change French politics.

The key to Ms Le Pen’s success so far has been her anti-immigrant, anti-globalisation platform and her stand against the French establishment. Today she accused mainstream parties of trying to keep her out of power.

Good evening from Paris, from another election which tore up all the establishment rules,trouncing the mainstream parties which have run France for more than 50 years. In a tight contest, two candidates won through to the second round, centrist Emmanuel Macron, with 24.0 percent, and the far-right’s Marine Le Pen, who took 21.3 percent.

Natalie Nougayrede, former managing editor of Le Monde and now a columnist for the Guardian, and Simon Kuper, a columnist with the Financial Times.

Two candidates want France to exit the Euro – if not the whole EU. Given what’s at stake, turnout is expected to be around 80 per cent – slightly higher than last time. Because of the state of emergency and the terror alert, tens of thousands of troops have been deployed all over the country.

A Thatcherite conservative or a middle of the road professional politician: however you describe him, the former French prime minister Francois Fillon is now the centre-right’s best hope of defeating the National Front’s Marine Le Pen.