Updated
An unpredictable election campaign in a divided France has left many voters disillusioned with both frontrunner Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
With polls open, the ABC took to the streets to ask voters about their decisions — and to find out why some are choosing not to cast their ballot.
I will vote for Macron because he wants to govern for all the French people, for everybody, for Europe, and for the world. We are not here to fight and be angry, but to work together. The hacking operation won't affect people's vote. People know now with [Donald] Trump what happened with the hacking. They are intelligent. I understand why some people don't want to vote because they're angry, they're very poor or they're not working, and they want the Government to help them.
Alexander Gascon
I shall vote tomorrow as usual because it's very important and people have fought very strongly for this right to vote. I will vote for Macron. I don't understand why people would not vote at all and take your place of being a French citizen. I understand that people are not very keen on the program of either Macron or Le Pen but you have to choose, as we say in France, between the plague and cholera. You have to choose between two diseases — not that I think Macron is a disease.
Marilyn Guillaume
Macron will win, but it is certainly going to be hard for him to bring the country together. But he is young, not like me, and he is strong, strong for the country! It has been an occasion to understand the problems of the country and it will require measures that are not easy to bear.
Yve Guillaume
I have always voted, but I am not voting this time. It's very disappointing. We have no options, no choice. On one side we have someone who is just not capable and has no experience and all the people behind him are from the old story, from Hollande's government. They say the guy is new and it's a new adventure, but it's not because he's taking around him all the old people and so it's just going to be a remake of the last five years. I voted for [Francois] Fillon in the first round, but I am not going to vote this time.
Sophie Feldblum
I'm not going to vote because I've got to start work very early and I have a long day. But I didn't vote two weeks ago either, but that's because I didn't like any of them. I know we had 11 candidates, but for me they're fake, they're not real people, they're all just the same politicians. I think Macron will win because a lot of people hate Le Pen because she hates the blacks, the Muslim people.
David Gabon
Personally I think we have the worst election since 1958 because we don't know where Mr Macron has come from. We think Mr Hollande has created him and we don't absolutely accept the ideas of Madame Le Pen. But here in France we have big, big problems. We'd like to accept people who need help but we don't have enough space. We must vote but, you see, it's the first time I don't have an idea of how I'm going to vote. I don't want to vote for Macron because we'll have five more years of Hollande. And I don't want Le Pen because I don't accept her ideas. My option is Macron or a blank vote, although maybe we need Le Pen's ideas for a short time. We have a problem of frontiers.
Xander Mabrouk
I will not be voting. The political offerings are not good and Macron is the left. If it's Macron now or Le Pen now it will be the cholera — so we need four years of cholera and then we will see. I think a lot of people will be abstaining. We don't have any good offers for the seniors, for the young — so we need to crash before we go up again.
Pierre Semonen
I think the best thing is to vote for Macron. I'm going for him rather than Marine Le Pen because quite simply, I think his program is good. The debate they had on TV a few days ago showed that Marine Le Pen is seriously beneath him. She disappointed me. All she did was attack him and didn't do anything else, whereas he maintained his sangfroid. He showed a good image of a future president. It's my assertion that everyone is going to vote for him. So Vive Emmanuel Macron!
Eliane Leminh
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, elections, france
First posted