Voters in France headed to the polls on Sunday for the presidential run-off between centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron and his challenger Marine Le Pen, whose far-right party appears set to have its strongest election ever.

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News agency AFP reported that Macron went into the election with a stable lead in opinion polls, an advantage he consolidated in the frenetic final days of campaigning, including a no-holds-barred performance in the pre-election debate.

But analysts have cautioned that Macron, who rose to power in 2017 aged 39 as the country’s youngest-ever modern leader, can take nothing for granted given forecasts of low turnout that could sway the result in either direction.

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The second round run-off is a repeat of the clash between Le Pen and Macron in 2017 when the centrist won 66 percent of the vote.

But the margins are seen as being far narrower this time, with polls projecting a victory for Macron by around 10 percentage points.

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At 5:00 pm (1500 GMT), voter participation stood at 63.2 percent, more than two percentage points lower than at the same time five years ago, when Macron handily beat Le Pen in their first face-off.

Polling firms have estimated that the abstention rate was on course for 28 percent which, if confirmed, would be the highest in any French presidential run-off since 1969.

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Voting stations will close at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT), when polling firms will begin publishing preliminary results based on partial counts that usually predict the final result with a high degree of accuracy.