French election: Closer look at top 5 presidential contenders
Five candidates have emerged from the pack as serious contenders in France's presidential election on April 23 to replace unpopular François Hollande, who is not running again.
The vote will be watched closely as the latest test of anti-European Union and anti-immigration sentiment in Europe.
If no candidate wins a majority of the vote, which is highly likely given the large field, the top two candidates go head to head in a runoff on May 7. So far, polls suggest voters prefer a far right, far left or independent candidate over the traditional mainstream parties that have ruled France for the past half century.
Here is a look at the top five candidates:
Marine Le Pen, National Front
Le Pen, 48, took control of the far-right National Front party from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2011 and epitomizes Europe's anti-EU and anti-immigration attitude.
She is a lawyer who has worked to soften the party's image following her father's strident rhetoric. The telegenic, twice-divorced mother of three children lives in the Paris suburbs. Her calls to forcibly expel illegal immigrants, close mosques linked to extremists and pull France out of the EU resonate with many middle class and rural voters.
Le Pen wants to ban all visible religious symbols worn in public, including Muslim headscarves and Jewish Kippahs. She believes globalization and international organizations such as NATO and the International Monetary Fund have undermined the nation-state.
Le Pen has been dogged for months by an anti-corruption probe into allegations that she improperly used EU funds to pay her personal assistant and bodyguard for jobs in France. She has denied breaking any rules and refused to submit to questioning until after the election.
Le Pen helped her party achieve its best-ever showing in a presidential election when the National Front came in third in the first round of 2012's vote. Current polls show she stands a good chance of making the runoff.
Emmanuel Macron, On the Move
Macron, 39, who has never held elected office, is married to a former teacher 20 years his senior. If elected, he would be France's youngest president. While polls show a tight race with Le Pen in the first round, Macron has a sizable lead in projected second-round voting. The former investment banker was France's economy minister, but quit Hollande's government to run for president as an independent.
The business-friendly challenger has emerged from relative obscurity to adopt a centrist position viewed as a liberal alternative to Le Pen's populism, and a break from France's traditional left or right political leadership. He wants to invest in public health and infrastructure, cut corporate tax rates and modernization workplace rules in a country that cherishes its time off. The "Macron Law" is a bill he introduced as economy minister that allowed more stores to open on Sundays.
François Fillon, The Republicans
Fillon, 63, is an experienced political operator involved in French politics for more than three decades, having served in a number of cabinet posts and as prime minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He grew up in a strict Catholic household and lives in a 12th century castle in western France.
He had been favored to win the election after cruising to an upset victory in his party's primaries, but the center-right candidate has been dogged by scandals that have hurt his chances.
Fillon faces multiple counts of embezzlement over allegations that he placed his wife and two of his five children in taxpayer-financed jobs as aides. Ethics inquires also have been opened into his expensive tastes; French media reported that he once paid a tailor more than $50,000 for a suit. Fillon has refused to quit the race as the investigation into his personal affairs deepens.
Politically, he wants to shrink the size of government, remove a wealth tax on the rich and lengthen France's mandatory 35-hour work week. He also wants to invest heavily in national security and has spoken about the need for the EU to end sanctions on Russia over the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea province in 2014.
In recent weeks Fillon has surged back into the running amid security fears. Fillon would be expected to take a tough line on keeping citizens safe and the issue of national security resurfaced just days before the vote with the killing of a policeman in Paris on Thursday night.
Benoit Hamon, Socialist Party
Hamon, 49, the son of a dockworker and a secretary, is married with two children. He previously served as Hollande's education minister and defeated former Prime Minister Manuel Valls to win the nomination for the current ruling party. Hamon is known for his radical policies even within the left-wing Socialist Party. He wants to introduce a universal basic income plan that would boost the salaries of everyone earning under about $2,400 per month, decriminalize marijuana and make it harder for companies to fire workers. He wants France, which relies heavily on nuclear energy, to stop using it entirely by 2050.
Hamon is a long shot to win the presidency because the Socialist Party has failed to inspire voters after years of economic stagnation and a string of terrorist attacks that have shaken the French. Hamon, who has been dubbed the "French Bernie Sanders," also risks losing votes to other leftist candidates.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, Left Party
Melenchon, 65, is the son of a postmaster and teacher who lived in Morocco until his family moved to France when he was still a child. He is further to the left than Hamon, and is supported by France's Communist Party. He has served as a senator and in various ministerial positions. A fiery orator, Melenchon has capitalized on some of the disappointment with the Socialist Party. Among his campaign pledges: to redistribute wealth by imposing heavy taxes on the rich, reduce homelessness to zero and force employers to recognize burn-out as an occupational illness.
Melenchon also wants a review of France's European treaties, although he has not explicitly called for France to leave the EU as has Le Pen. In the 2012 presidential vote, he came in fourth. Melenchon has resisted calls to drop out of the contest because it splits the left-wing vote. Recent polls show him locked in a dual with Fillon for third place behind Le Pen and Macron in the first round.
Read more:
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Paris terror attack boosts anti-immigration presidential candidate Le Pen