As the countdown to that poll ticks to just hours now, scandals surrounding the main French presidential candidates have being highlights of the campaigns for the election.
Right-wing conservative candidate Francois Fillon was once the presidential front-runner. But he lost steam earlier this year after French satirical weekly, Le Canard Enchaine, reported that he paid his wife and two of his five children about 1 million U.S. dollars for jobs as parliamentary assistants, but there was no evidence to show his wife really worked.
The approval rating of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen also fell after the European Parliament accused her of paying party staff working in France with European Union funds worth about 360,000 U.S. dollars, after she claimed they were European parliamentary assistants.
Meanwhile, Centrist presidency front-runner Emmanuel Macron is also under criticism amid media reports about his extramarital affair, though he has denied these reports.
Macron and Le Pen confirmed their status as front runners for the presidential election in a new survey released on Friday.
A total of 11 candidates are competing for the French presidency this year.
The first round of votes will kick off on Sunday, and a second will be held for the top two candidates on May the 7th if no one is able to receive 50 percent of the votes.
