The first round of presidential elections is taking place in France today. It involves 12 candidates, but only three probably have a real chance of reaching the second round: the leader of the "France Unbowed" Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the head of the "National Rally" Marine Le Pen and the current president Emmanuel Macron.
Nearly 70,000 polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m. ET (9:00 Moscow time) across France. The 48 million French people registered on the electoral roll will have to choose between the current president and his rivals today.
It is expected that the first official preliminary results will be known before midnight.
