French overseas territories kicking off presidential voting

Paris: Voters waking up in some French overseas territories are preparing to vote first in France's unpredictable presidential election, one day earlier than in the mainland.

Political campaigning is banned from today across France, and online, as voters in far-flung areas such as French Polynesia, Guiana, Guadeloupe cast ballots for one of the 11 candidates.

The mad-dash campaigning of the last few weeks came to a premature end Friday, hours after a gunman killed a police officer on the famed Champs-Elysees.

Major candidates cancelled their last campaign day events yesterday over security concerns including the National Front's Marine Le Pen, Les Republicans' Francois Fillon and centrist Emmanuel Macron.

Opinion polls suggest that at least four candidates have a chance of grabbing one of the two places in the May runoff.