Voters in France will decide on their new president on Sunday. According to opinion polls, centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron is the favourite, Reuters reported.
This comes after a “massive and coordinated” hacking attack against the 39-year-old took place in the eleventh hour of the election. Macron’s campaign, however, said the hundreds of leaked documents and emails were fake. France’s election commission in a statement said, “The dissemination of such data, which have been fraudulently obtained and in all likelihood may have been mingled with false information, is liable to be classified as a criminal offence.”
The leak occurred just as candidates were wrapping up their campaign, and is reminiscent of hacking attacks on United States presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Neither camp could respond in detail to the Macron hacks as campaigning before the day of the vote is banned in France. WikiLeaks has said it was not responsible for the hacks.
Macron’s main contender is far right candidate Marine Le Pen. His team has blamed groups supported by the Russian Kremlin for the hack, since they back Le Pen. Macron, who was former President Francois Hollande’s finance minister, has a 23-26% advantage over Le Pen, according to the polls. If elected, he would be France’s youngest ever president. When he was appointed by Hollande three years ago, he was largely unknown in the political scene, The Guardian says. However, if he does win, it remains to be seen how he will get a parliamentary majority since he does not have even one elected MP.
If Le Pen wins, it is likely to massively affect the European Union. The National Front leader has said she wants to close borders, tighten migration rules and stop using the EU’s euro currency. But regardless of who wins, the victory will be historic since this will be the first time the country’s Socialist and Republican parties have not made it to the final contenders for president. Both candidates will also make history, either for being France’s first woman president or its youngest.
Around 67,000 voting stations will open at 8 am (local time) on Sunday.
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