The world is watching as France prepares for second-round run-off

Most international observers of Sunday's French election predict a tough struggle between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen before the decisive vote on 24 April. And many suggest that the margin of victory will be narrow.

French and international newspapers. Anders Sandberg/ Flickr

The BBC keep it simple. "Macron and Le Pen to fight for French presidency" reads their international front-page headline. Fair enough.

The BBC analysis is slightly more explicit. "It is to be a re-run of the 2017 second round, where Emmanuel Macron pulverised Marine Le Pen. But this time around, let no-one be under any illusion that it will be so easy."

Indeed.

Then the British national broadcaster gets properly into its stride.

"Macron," we read, "has so engineered it that the divide in French politics is now definitively the one that he sought: between his own 'realistic centrism' and 'openness to the world' and the 'extremism' of his opponents. The 'nationalist extremism' of Le Pen and the 'utopian extremism' of Mélenchon.

Over at the more sober London Times, the main headline tells us that the "French election is in the balance after narrow Macron win". Further down the front page of the establishment paper we read that "Le Pen eyes left-wing voters in pursuit of shock victory".

The New York Times continues to give its prime space to the war in Ukraine, but the paper does tell us that "French voters gravitate toward extremes".

In the US federal capital, The Washington Post says that the second round will be a close-run affair, unlike 2017.

"Polls . . . suggest a far tighter contest [this time], with many on the French right and potentially even some voters from the far-left casting a ballot for Le Pen. Abstentions from a growing pool of people disenchanted with their options and tired of Macron may also boost Le Pen’s chances.

"Macron, far from an outsider reinvigorating the French state, appears to many of his opponents as the aloof agent of a wealthy elite establishment and custodian of a fragile status quo in need of reform."

The English-language edition of Russian newspaper Pravda makes no mention at all of events in France but does assure readers that "at least two-thirds of the world's population does not condemn Russia's actions" in Ukraine.

Irish provincial paper The Skibbereen Eagle which has, according to its masthead, been "Keeping an Eye on the Czar since 1898", has nothing to say about France either.