Voting starts in 2nd round of French presidential election

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

PARIS (AA) - French voters on Sunday are heading to polling stations to elect the country's next president for five years.

The incumbent President Emmanuel Macron is in a comfortable lead with 57.5% to 43.5% against his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen, according to some of the final polls.

Other polls indicate a lead of around 10 points.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0600GMT) across the country and will close at 7 p.m. outside of the big cities, where the deadline will be an hour later.

More than 47 million people are registered to cast their ballots and the exit polls are expected to be released as soon as voting is over.

The winning candidate will lead the country for a five-year term.