PARIS, April 24. /TASS/. The second round of presidential elections has started in France as 70,000 polling stations opened across the country at 8:00 am Paris time (9:00 Moscow time) on Sunday.

Over 48.7 mln French citizens are registered in voter lists. In the majority of communes polling places will close at 7:00 pm local time (8:00 pm Moscow time), but in large cities, including Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux and Lyon, voters will be able to vote until 8:00 pm (9:00 pm Moscow time).

According to the results of the first round, which took place on April 10, the French will have to choose between the incumbent President Emmanuel Macron, who is running for a second term, and National Rally leader Marine Le Pen.

This is their second runoff contest as in 2017 Macron won the elections with 66.1% of votes, while Le Pen came in second, earning 33.9% of votes. This time the president joined the campaign later than his rival due to his diplomatic mission in the Ukrainian conflict and France’s chairmanship in the European Union.

Macron and his wife are expected to vote on a site in the northern resort town of Le Touquet, where the family villa of the presidential couple is located. Le Pen will visit a polling station in the commune of Henin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais department), which she represents in Parliament.

The first round of elections took place on April 10. With 100% of ballots processed, Macron (27.84% of the vote) and Le Pen (23.15% of the vote) received the right to enter the final round.

Previously published polls predict the victory of the incumbent head of state, but the difference in percentage of votes between the two candidates turned out to be noticeably smaller than in the 2017 election final.