Marine Le Pen casts her vote as France goes to the polls in tightest race for presidency in decades – and expats queue round the block outside embassy in London
THE most unpredictable presidential election in decades has kicked off today as polling stations open across France and fears mount over a ban on armed cops guarding booths.
Security has been ramped up as voters hit the ballot box and 50,000 French special forces take to the streets to thwart potential terror attacks – but laws prevent police carrying assault rifles near voting centres.
Tens of thousands of French citizens living in the UK have turned out across the country to vote, with many forced to queue in excess of three hours to reach the ballot box.
Polling stations have been set up in London, Wembley, Birmingham, Leeds and Edinburgh for the large expatriate community to cast their votes, with 70 polling stations in total across the UK.
Even as they waited in the queue, some voters had still not made their minds up.
Julien Brunel, 33, from Richmond, west London, a managing consultant said: “I don’t know which way it is going to go, it is a very unpredictable race.
“I still haven’t made up my mind yet, thankfully I have a long time to make my mind up as there is a very long queue.”
“The prospect of Le Pen winning is terrifying, it would be terrible, a catastrophe for France,” he added.
With a third of voters still undecided, four candidates are currently positioned to take the top spot – one of two first-round places which would take them to the final battle for the presidency.
The election comes against a backdrop of terrorist attacks in France, including one in Paris on Thursday in which a gunman carrying a note praising Islamic State killed a police officer before being shot dead himself.
The race to choose a new president has been dubbed a battle for Frexit and the latest polls show a surge in support for more extreme left and right candidates amid terror tensions.
Favourite Emmanuel Macron is against Frexit and called the UK’s decision to leave the EU a crime.
But Marine Le Pen, of the Far-Right National Front, plans an exit vote. She said of the UK: “It’s great what they’ve done. Their growth is double ours.”
Far-Left Jean-Luc Melenchon, also wants a Frexit poll and has accused the EU of threatening “vengeance” against the UK.
Centrist Macron is polling in the lead alongside Le Pen as centre right candidate Francois Fillon, a former Prime Minister, and Melenchon trail just two to three points behind.
Earlier Donald Trump claimed the latest ISIS terror attack on Paris will boost Le Pen’s chances of becoming French president.
The US leader spoke out as a last minute poll revealed tough-talking Len Pen has received ‘a modest increase in support’ since the gun attack in the French capital.
The US president said the shooting would “probably” help Le Pen in Sunday’s election because she is “strongest on borders, and she’s the strongest on what’s been going on in France.”
More than 50,000 police and gendarmes have been mobilised by the French Government to protect 70,000 polling stations.
London-based polling volunteer at the Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle school, Edouard de Guitaut said there had been a surge in registrations by French nationals in the UK.
“A lot of them were worried,” he said. “We have a big pool of voters, we expect 50,000 French citizens to vote here in South Kensington and in my polling station I expect about 1,200 voters compared to about 800 five years ago.”
Protests by feminist group Femen have erupted outside Front National leader Le Pen’s polling station in Henin-Beaumontm northern France.
Pictures show topless activists, brandishing the slogan ‘Team Marine”, being wrestled to the ground by police.
