Paris_ The imminent presidential elections in France, crucial for the future of the country and Europe, will be carried out tomorrow amidst tensions because of the terrorist threat, exacerbated by a recent attack, Prensa Latina reports.
Last Thursday, an individual attacked several policemen and killed a uniformed man and wounded three others on the emblematic Champs Elysees Avenue in the heart of Paris.
The fact made clear that France is far from passing the page of extremist risk, which increases to extremely high levels in the particular circumstances of the elections.
In admitting the high degree of danger, the main authorities of the country reported that the security forces will remain mobilized to ensure vigilance and this will involve the deployment of more than 50,000 police and gendarmes throughout the national territory.
These agents will join the military of the Sentinelle operation, activated in the aftermath of the attacks of 2015 and 2016, in addition to the rapid intervention brigades that will be kept alert.
According to reports from the Ministry of Interior, everything is ready to guarantee protection in the almost 67,000 polling stations that will open tomorrow from 08:00 to 19:00 local time.
For after 20:00 local time it is predicted the announcement of the first results, a scenario that looks uncertain, as the predictions of a widespread fragmentation of the vote prevent a clear favorite.
Four presidential candidates of diverse political tendencies appear very tied in the intention of vote reflected by the polls, in what is probably configured as the most contested elections of the last decades.
In the light of the polls, anything can happen between right-wing Marine Le Pen, centrist Emmanuel Macron, leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon and right-wing François Fillon, who are approaching 20 percent of citizen support, by only two or three points.
Although since March Le Pen and Macron were the undisputed leaders in the polls, in recent days they have experienced a negative trend that pushed them back to 22 or 23 percent.
At the same time, Melenchon made surprising progress that has led him to 20 percent of the backing, a figure similar to Fillon, who has achieved some improvement in recent weeks.
As a result, the panorama is very close between the four candidates and the electoral participation will be decisive in the final definition, which could be much lower than the 80 percent recorded as an average in the elections of recent decades.
Several studies agree that about 30 percent of citizens still declare undecided about their vote, which could ultimately lead to high abstention.
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