Macron, Le Pen to Face One Another in French Runoff

Sunday's round of voting will be followed by a second-round runoff on May 7 between the top two candidates.

Hardline right-winger Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, who rails against Europe, was the first of the 11 presidential candidates to vote Sunday morning in his constituency in the leafy Paris suburbs.

Crowds danced on a Paris plaza as Socialist presidential candidate Benoit Hamon held what is seen as a last-chance rally and concert.

Investors are anxious that if Melenchon is able to maintain this dynamic in the final days of the campaign, he's likely to qualify for the second round of the vote on May 7, where his opponent could turn out to be the the far-right Marine Le Pen who opposes immigration and wants to pull France out of the euro zone.

He aimed particular criticism at 39-year-old Macron, who spent two years as economy minister in the current Socialist government but has never held elected office.

His manifesto also calls for withdrawal from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military alliance and the International Monetary Fund, vetoing of international free-trade accords, ending the European Central Bank's independence and taking control of Bank of France.

Le Pen, 48, has spent years trying to grow support for the FN by campaigning on bread-and-butter issues, but in the final days of the race she has returned to its stock themes of immigration and national identity.

"This enormous army in the shadows who want us to live in fear.is not a fatality", she told the cheering crowd.

"Terrorist acts have multiplied throughout Europe during the campaign", she said.

On Wednesday, she repeated that she would slash immigration, make it harder to obtain French nationality and crack down on suspected Islamists.

She assailed recent governments for failing to stop attacks and warned on BFM television earlier in the day; "We are all targets - all the French".

Pollsters see centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right Marine Le Pen taking the top two places on Sunday and so going head-to-head in the run-off. Macron, a centrist independent, or the conservative Fillon would be clear favorites if they faced Le Pen in the second round.

The premium that France pays over Germany to borrow for 10 years has climbed this year as markets priced in Melenchon's rise in the polls and Le Pen's persistent strength. While Islam has been a big part of Le Pen's campaign and the electoral debate, French voters in Muslim-majority Egypt said the topic did not affect their voting choices. Some Muslims feel unfairly targeted by French laws banning headscarves in schools and full-face veils in public.

"I want to be the president of the French Republic". After a good showing in television debates and at rallies, his promises to tax the rich and renegotiate France's role in the European Union and trade deals have attracted voters who have rejected the Socialist party, led by candidate Benoit Hamon. While it once looked like Le Pen would take as much as one-third of the vote, she now finds herself in second place, just 3 points ahead of the bottom two contenders, according to a HuffPost France poll count.