How is the French president elected?
France is electing a successor to Francois Hollande, who has decided not to run for a second term at the Elysee Palace.
Q: How is the French president elected?
There are two rounds of voting. There are 11 candidates declared for the first round. In the unlikely event of a candidate getting 50% plus one of the vote, they would be elected on Sunday.
Barring that, the two leading candidates will then advance to a deciding round on May 7.
Q: Will it be like the US election and are there any key "swing states"?
The decider will be a straight popular vote, with 50% plus one of the electorate sufficient to secure victory.
The candidates have not concentrated their campaigns in any particular geographical area, as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton did. Even if you are the only supporter of your party in a village your vote will count as much as anyone else's.
Q: Who are the likely candidates for the second round?
Current forecasts suggest Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will reach the second round. However, polls have tightened in the past two weeks and Gaullist Francois Fillon and leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon could yet secure one of the berths with the top four polling between 18% and 24%.
The other seven candidates, including Socialist Benoit Hamon, are polling single-digit scores going into the first round.
Q: Will the first-round winner be the likely next president?
There are plenty of historical precedents for a turnaround between the two rounds, most recently Jacques Chirac in 1995, who only just pipped fellow Gaullist Edouard Balladur to second place in the first round, but who then beat Socialist Lionel Jospin, who had won the first round but was unable to hold off the now reunited Gaullists.
This year's race is even more unpredictable as it is not clear what sort of choice the voters will have in round two.
It could be anything from a far right/centre right contest between Ms Le Pen and Mr Fillon, to a clash between two former Socialists, Mr Macron and Mr Melenchon. None of the four leading candidates can yet take their presence in round two for granted.
There will also be horse-trading between the rounds, with the remaining candidates eager to secure the endorsement of the nine eliminated on Sunday.
