Electoral silence begins on the eve of the decisive selection in France's presidential elections Who wins?

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, the two candidates for the second round of the French presidential elections, entered an electoral silence on Friday evening, awaiting the results of the poll that seem decisive for the future of the country.

The two presidential candidates in France, outgoing President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen, will remain silent on Saturday, the day after the official campaign for a vote whose results appear decisive for the country's future.

The latest opinion polls revealed that Macron will win the second round, which constitutes a second version of the one that took place in 2017, by a smaller margin than he scored five years ago when he received 66% of the vote, but the abstention rate may have a significant impact.

Both camps fear that their voters will abstain, especially in this period of spring school holidays across the country.

This ballot will be of great importance. Macron will become the first president to be re-elected since Jacques Chirac in 2002, and the first to be re-elected outside a period of coexistence with a government by another politician, since the head of state was chosen by direct universal suffrage in 1962. Le Pen will become the first woman and the first leader of the far-right to hold the presidency.

As of Friday midnight, public meetings, leaflet distribution and digital advertising of candidates were prohibited. The results of any opinion poll cannot be published before the first estimates are announced at 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Until the last moment, each of the candidates urged his supporters to go to the polling stations, stressing that he had not resolved anything, regardless of expectations or opinion polls.

Macron ended his campaign, which he started late due to the war in Ukraine, with a meeting in Vigiac in rural Le Pen, while Marine Le Pen, who toured around the country for a month, ended her campaign in her stronghold in Pas-de-Calais, which she represents in the Chamber of Deputies.

The two contenders courted voters for the radical leftist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who came third in the first round, which took place on April 10 after Le Pen, and won about 22% of the vote.

A "third round" in June?

48.7 million voters were called to vote on Sunday as of 6:00 GMT.

Because of the time difference, voters in the overseas territories of Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and French Polynesia will vote on Saturday.

The campaign was largely overshadowed by the health crisis and then the war in Ukraine, which affected the purchasing power, the main concern of the French, given the repercussions of the conflict on energy and food prices.

To attract Melenchon voters, Marine Le Pen has promised to protect the weakest, while Emmanuel Macron has swung to the left, vowing to put the environment at the heart of his business.

Wednesday night's televised debate between the two candidates qualified for the second round revealed the profound difference in their positions on Europe, the economy, purchasing power, relations with Russia, pensions or immigration.

Whoever wins, the legislative elections scheduled for June could become a "third round", as it is difficult for both Le Pen and Macron to obtain a parliamentary majority.

Melenchon also expressed his ambition to become prime minister and thus impose coexistence, hoping for a big vote for the deputies of his "Rebel France" party, which had already begun negotiations with other leftist formations.

On the other hand, a third round could take place in the street along the lines of the popular protest of the "yellow vests" in 2018-2019, especially regarding Emmanuel Macron's project to reform the pension systems, which angers part of public opinion.

But if Marine Le Pen wins, the tremors may start from Sunday evening and the country will enter into the unknown the next day.