Le Pen, who has ridden a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, has vowed to withdraw France from the European Union and shut its borders to immigrants.
All 11 candidates ranging from centrist Emmanuel Macron, who is narrowly leading the field, to minnows like Philippe Poutou, a Ford factory mechanic polling at 1.5 percent, will be interviewed on France 2 television for 15 minutes each. With polls finely balanced, the politicians then went silent, leaving voters with their final words.
The most likely scenario: Macron faces off against either Melenchon or Le Pen. She is the only candidate to warn about the danger to French society posed by Muslim migrants. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) Expand / Contract Le Pen has made getting tough on terror a cornerstone of her campaign.
Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for Thursday's shooting, in which a French policeman was shot dead, via its Amaq news agency, naming the attacker as Abu Yousif al-Belgiki.
Macron is pure bubble; if the bubble pops, right and left could unite with some elements of the Establishment to put Le Pen in power.
"There are probably, possible accomplices that need to be arrested which is why I won't give you additional details", he said. "I don't think Melenchon will get through".
However, two strongly pro-Trump Republican members of Congress - Steve King of Iowa and Dana Rohrabacher of California - in France in February.
For Douglas Webber, a professor of political science at INSEAD business school, "the shooting could have an impact on the undecided".
Can we one day stop mining the earth altogether?
In the context of the patent Apple utilizes a fairly common use case for both virtual and augmented reality: furniture placement. Based on this view, he bumped his price target for Apple stock up from $150 to $162 per share and reiterated his Buy rating.
For the first round, Macron's projected 24 percent of the vote represented a steady score from the last time the poll was conducted three days earlier.
Le Pen also has close ties to Russian Federation. A late surge in support for Melenchon has pushed French bond yields close to a four-year high.
Cazeneuve also criticised conservative candidate Francois Fillon, who reiterated a pledge to create 10,000 new police jobs.
On Sunday, Marine Le Pen, the candidate of the far-right National Front (FN), is projected to become the second woman in French history to advance to the second round of a presidential election. It remains uncompetitive and suffers from falling productivity, the European Commission has said, adding that recent reforms are not enough. A Le Pen victory would mean the end of Europe's institutions as we know them.
That's where the terrorist attack yesterday might play a role in the election.
Speaking in Indonesia Friday, US Vice President Mike Pence said the attack was just the latest reminder "that terrorism can strike anywhere at any time".
She said France must engage in a "war against terrorism" and accused successive French governments of being too lax towards fundamentalists. Will have a big effect on presidential election! "She won't be able to protect our citizens", Macron said.
