Paris, April 10 : As France goes to the polls on Sunday in the opening round of a presidential race it is expected that a very close contest is on the table, BBC reported President Emmanuel Macron has a very tough fight on his hands from far-right challenger Marine Le Pen, who has in the past few days closed the gap with the president through a slick election campaign. President Macron on the other hand has spent little time on the campaign, focusing instead on Europe’s reaction to Russia’s war in Ukraine. There are 12 candidates in the fray and about forty-nine million people will decide which of the two candidates will partake in the run-off vote. While Europe and the world have been focused on the war in Ukraine, one issue more than any other has predominated this election: the rising cost of living courtesy the spiralling energy bills and shopping baskets. Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo has struggled to make his presence felt in the election, while on the right Valérie Pécresse has failed to excite the Republicans. Now, the main challenge to President Macron, 44, is coming from Le Pen, 53, on the far right and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, 70, on the far left. After her loss to Macron in 2017, Le Pen rebranded her National Front as National Rally, even though many of her policies have only seen cosmetic changes as she has presented herself as more moderate than far-right rival candidate Eric Zemmour. In the run up to the elections what has added to the uncertainty is that, one Ipsos opinion poll suggested 37 per cent of people were still undecided. Voting in big cities like Paris, Lyon and Marseille will take place from 08:00 to 20:00 local time (06:00-18:00 GMT). First the Covid-19 pandemic and then the Russia invasion of Ukraine has overshadowed this election. ACL0642