France goes to the polls as Macron faces strong challenge from Le Pen

People queue before voting in the first round of the French presidential election in Paris (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

French voters streamed to polling stations on Sunday for the first round of a tense contest for the presidency, with incumbent Emmanuel Macron’s hopes of re-election clouded by a strong challenge from the far right’s Marine Le Pen.

Macron, a centrist, is asking France’s 48 million voters for a second five-year term. But he was up against 11 other candidates and widespread voter anger and apathy.