About half of French voters still undecided as election race nears

  An Odoxa poll released on Friday showed that nearly half of French voters had not made their final choices as to which candidate they wanted to support following an unpredictable campaign.

Seventy-four percent of voters said they would go to the polling station for the first round of voting in April. However, 43 percent were still undecided over which candidate to vote for, according to the survey.

"2017 proposes an unprecedented uncertainty in the (country's) electoral history," the pollster said.

As the election approaches, the contest to win France's top political position remains uncertain amid a series of surprises, starting with the outgoing Socialist President Francois Hollande's decision not to seek a second term.

Additionally, fraud scandals have tainted far-right leader Marine Le Pen's bid and as well as that of conservative contender Francois Fillon, who has lost his top spot in the wake of the fake job affair, which is giving a boost to the independent challenger Emmanuel Macron.

Launching his own bid, Macron portrayed himself as a "candidate for jobs," proposing a "progressive" platform expected to pull France into the 21st century.

The country's surveys suggest Macron is likely to qualify for May's run-off vote against the National Front's Le Pen.

In a further sign of Macron's increasing chances of the presidency, French defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian of the ruling Socialist Party, said on Friday that he backed his presidential bid.

"I decided to support Emmanuel Macron. His project is voluntarist and pragmatic," Le Drian told CNews television.

Le Drian, a close ally of Hollande, joined two members of the Socialist government -- biodiversity minister Barbara Pompili and Bernard Poignant, a close adviser to the French head of state -- in announcing their endorsement to the centrist front-runner.

source: Xinhua