France election: voters go to the polls in wide-open contest

Top two finishers from 11 candidates will advance to runoff on 7 May that will decide France's next president

Voting is under way in the first round of an unpredictable French presidential election whose outcome could prove crucial for the future of a deeply divided country and a nervous European Union.

Less than two days after a gunman shot dead a police officer on the Champs-Elysi(C)es in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility, France's 47 million registered voters - nearly a quarter of whom are still undecided - go to the polls amid heightened security.