And, for those of you who prefer news from the media of the nation involved:
France votes in hotly contested presidential race amid tight securityVoters on Sunday are casting their ballots in the first election in France’s modern history to take place under a state of emergency. Security has been tightened across the country with many polling stations guarded by armed police and soldiers.
Polls opened at 8am local time across the country in the first round of a high-stakes presidential election that is being closely watched by the international community.
Around 46.87 million voters are registered to vote in 66,546 polling stations, several of them protected – for the first time in recent memory -- by armed police and soldiers.
The tightened security measures follow an attack on the world famous Champs-Élysées Thursday night, when a gunman killed a policeman and wounded three others, including two policemen. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.
"The government is fully mobilised,” French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said after an emergency meeting of top security officials on Friday. “Nothing must be allowed to impede the fundamental democratic process of our country.”
Around 50,000 policemen and 7,000 soldiers have been deployed to protect the nation’s voting sites, both Sunday and in the May 7 second round.
Another test of post-war liberal order
French voters are choosing from 11 presidential candidates in a hotly contested race that is widely viewed as yet another test of the post-war liberal economic order following the shock victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election and the Brexit vote in the UK.
The favourites in the first round are far-right’s Marine Le Pen, centrist Emmanuel Macron, the centre-right’s François Fillon and extreme left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
More:
http://www.france24.com/en/20170421-security-heightened-french-polling-stations-amid-terror-fears-franceThe named candidates (in the article, not here cause I'm lazy) have links to news items from France24 on each candidate. for anyone curious.