The French presidential election is a genuine four-horse race

A 39-YEAR-OLD former investment banker who built his own political movement is narrowly leading the opinion polls as the French republic heads to vote for its next president.

Independent candidate for the 2017 French Presidential Elections Emmanuel Macron speaks during his political campaign rally at the Palais des Sport in Lyon Source: EPA

Source: SBS

Emmanuel Macron, a former minister in Francois Hollande’s Socialist government who quit to form his own party, En Marche! (Onwards!), holds the narrowest of leads against the hard-Right firebrand Marine Le Pen, the hard-Left communist Jean-Luc Melenchon, and the scandal-plagued conservative Republican Francois Fillon.