FRENCH ELECTION: Final candidates to go head-to-head TONIGHT in first TV debate
THE frontrunners for the turbulent French presidential elections will come face to face in the first election TV debate tonight.
Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron will battle it out on live TV tonight
The top five contenders of the election, Emmanuel Macron of the Centrist party, Marine Le Pen of the Front National, Francois Fillon of the Republicans, Benoit Hamon of the Socialist Party and Jean-Luc Melenchen of Unsubmissive France will all take part in a TV battle a month before voters go to the polls.
It is the first time in a French election that a debate has been held before the first round of voting.
The Conservative candidate Francois Fillon will take part in the debate
It is the first time in a French election that a debate has been held before the first round of voting
Leader of the anti-European Union Front National, Marine Le Pen, is neck and neck in the first round of the presidential election polls with Macron, the latest survey from Kantar Sofres-Onepoint has revealed.
The final candidates vying to become the next French president has been verified and formally announced by the President of the French Constitutional Council Laurent Fabius.
Le Pen is currently neck and neck with Macron
The three candidates, Philippe Putout of the New Anticapitalist Party, Jacques Cheminade of Solidarity and Progress, and the unaffiliated centrist representative Jean Lassalle all qualified at the last minute.
The other contenders are nationalist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan from Stand up France, Nathalie Arthaud from the Worker's Struggle and Francois Asselineau of Popular Republican Union.
Le Pen is hoping to gain support using her Eurosceptism and hardline anti-migrant beliefs.
Benoit Hamon holds a rally meeting in Paris
The number of candidates is 11, compared to 12 in 2007 and 10 in 2012.
This is the first time in history that a general election in France has been held while the country is under a state of emergency.
Le Pen: Eurozone cannot survive without France
The election is being closely followed across the world and seen as a test of the discontent with the EU.
The first round of the presidential elections will be held on April 23, and the final two candidates will qualify for a run-off on May 7.