After a tumultuous election campaign filled with scandal and surprises, the French public began to vote Sunday on whether a pro-European Union centrist or an anti-EU, anti-immigration far-rightist will lead them for the next five years.
Opinion polls indicate they will pick Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old ex-economy minister who wants to bridge the left-right divide, resisting an anti-establishment tide that has seen Britons vote to leave the EU and Americans choose Donald Trump as their president.
But should an upset occur and National Front candidate Marine Le Pen win, the very future of the EU could be on the line.