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Overseas territories kick off vote in French election

Paris - Opinion polls showed a tight race among the four top contenders

Polling stations opened on Saturday in France's far-flung overseas territories - one day earlier than on the mainland - for the country's unpredictable presidential election as the 11 candidates in the race observed a ban on campaigning.
France's 10 per cent unemployment and the country's lackluster economy top voters' concerns as first-round ballots are cast this weekend in the most nail-biting French election in generations.
Opinion polls showed a tight race among the four top contenders vying to get the May presidential 7 runoff that will decide who becomes the next head of state. But the polls also showed that the future of France was largely in the hands of the one-in-three voters who were still undecided.
A deadly attack on police on Paris' famed Champs-Elysees Avenue clouded the last days of campaigning. Security is a prominent issue after a wave of extremist attacks on French soil, including Thursday night's attack by a gunman who killed a Paris police officer before being shot dead by security forces. The gunman had a note in his pocket praising the Daesh militant group.
Political campaigning is banned beginning Saturday across France and online and several candidates canceled appearances Friday hours after the attack.
Polling centers opened in the Atlantic Ocean territories of Saint Pierre and Miquelon as well as French Guiana in South America, the Caribbean's Guadeloupe and elsewhere. Voters abroad could also cast ballots in French embassies.
Polls suggested that far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, an independent centrist and former economy minister, were in the lead.  However, conservative Francois Fillon, a former prime minister whose campaign was initially derailed by corruption allegations that his wife was paid as his non-working parliamentary aide, appeared to be closing the gap, as was far-leftist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon.
The mad-dash campaigning of the last few weeks came to an abrupt halt hours after the Champs-Elysees gun attack by 39-year-old Karim Cheurfi. Three suspects close to the attacker remain in custody, Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre of the Paris prosecutor's office said on Saturday. 
Le Pen and Fillon cancelled their campaign events on Friday over security concerns.  Macron did too, but also accused his rivals of trying to capitalise on the attack.