France goes to the polls on Sunday with at least one-third of voters still undecided on the final day of campaigning.
The three front-runners to replace Jacques Chirac are all promising to restore the country's sense of direction after a prolonged period of social and economic upheaval.
Right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy is favourite to win Sunday's first ballot - but without the necessary 50 per cent of the vote to declare outright victory.
Instead he is expected to face a May 3rd final run-off with either Socialist Ségolène Royal or the centre-right politician and part-time farmer Francois Bayrou, whose late showing has offered voters a "third way".
Latest polls show Mr Sarkozy ahead with a predicted 30 per cent of the vote compared with Ms Royal's 25 per cent and Mr Bayrou creeping towards 20 per cent.
One poll claimed Ms Royal was closing the gap on Mr Sarkozy as the three front-runners entered a final round of campaigning armed with fresh promises to get France back on its feet.
Of the rest of the dozen candidates, only the National Front's Jean-Marie Le Pen has caught people's attention. Mr Le Pen, who is said to be in line for 15 per cent of the vote, has declared that Mr Sarkozy, whose father is Hungarian, is "not French enough" to be president.
In the 2002 presidential poll, Mr Le Pen beat Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin to take second place in the first round against Mr Chirac.
Both Ms Royal and Mr Sarkozy are offering to restore French national pride. Ms Royal has promised support for downtrodden workers and re-nationalisation, while Mr Sarkozy is wooing voters with tax cuts and tougher law and order policies after last year's riots in the French suburbs.
The latecomer Mr Bayrou is quietly collecting votes, however, and, despite a centre-right background, he has vowed to break the "prehistoric" right-left political mould and forge a pragmatic bipartisan presidency heading a unity government.