Paris: The final hours of many electoral campaigns are frantic affairs, dominated by last-minute pitches, late-breaking polls and massive social media campaigns aimed at drumming up turnout.
Not so in France.
![Police on the Champs Elysees after the attack on police on April 20.](/web/20170426143646im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/p/w/o/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvqnaj.png/1492962784465.jpg)
Rules dating back more than half a century impose a 44-hour timeout ahead of the polls' closure on Sunday, meaning that politicians, journalists - and even ordinary citizens - are supposed to refrain from broadcasting any form of "electoral propaganda".
For at least the last three French elections, voters in the town of Louviers, about 100 kilometres north-west of Paris, have cast ballots for the candidate who ultimately won the presidency. So who are they voting for Sunday, in the country's closest race in memory?
"I haven't decided. It's gnawing at me," said Charlene Hedoux, 30, a cleaning woman who was sitting at a bus stop this past week in central Louviers, which has a soaring Gothic church and bustling cafes. "I have children. I didn't before. When one sees how these last few days have been going, it's not very reassuring."
With allegiances to existing parties diminishing, pollsters have found some voters torn between diametrically opposed candidates.
A good example was Pierre Haux, a teacher at a technical school, who attended a rally last week in Lille of the mainstream conservative candidate, Francois Fillon, who is under the cloud of a nepotism scandal.
Haux said he was also weighing voting for the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, but worried that he was "a one-man show".
![A supporter of French centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron glues a campaign poster in Bayonne, south-western ...](/web/20170426143646im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/q/5/f/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvqnaj.png/1492962784465.jpg)
The Twitter feeds of France's 11 presidential candidates went quiet after midnight on Friday. French television coverage was subdued.
And any journalist who received a newsworthy tip about one candidate or the other is just too late.
"The press can't publish such a story," said Pascal Jan, a professor of constitutional law at Sciences Po Bordeaux. "If there were a scandal, it should have been exposed Friday."
The national timeout lasts from midnight Friday to 8pm on Sunday (8am Australian eastern on Saturday to 4am on Monday) in France and is intended to give voters time to reflect on their choice free from the distraction of surveys, radio commentary and televised rallies.
The rules apply online as well, meaning that candidates and their campaigns can't do so much as post updates to Facebook or Instagram.
The rules even apply to French voters - meaning that someone posting a pro-Socialist or pro-Republican message online could fall foul of the law, at least in theory.
"It applies to all of us. It's totally forbidden," said Jan, although he acknowledged that, in practice, a single person posting wouldn't be sanctioned for expressing themselves online.
"But if it became massive ... it would unbalance the contest and thus might influence the votes of those who were exposed to social media."
Amid chatter about foreign propaganda and fake news possibly affecting the vote, French authorities seem to be keeping a close eye on potential violations of the law.
Journalists have been sent repeated instructions about what is and isn't allowed in the last few days.
The various candidates' Twitter feeds, meanwhile, are frozen in time.
Nous les Français, nous avons toujours été au rendez-vous de l'Histoire. Dimanche, votons @FrancoisFillon ! pic.twitter.com/Fn0mSdzn0A
— FILLON 2017 (@Fillon2017_fr) April 21, 2017
"Sunday, let's vote Francois Fillon!" says the last tweet from the right-wing candidate's campaign.
Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen's last tweet re-broadcast a message by her niece, National Front legislator Marion Marechal-Le Pen, who said: "This Sunday, the only real question that matters: Who will have the courage to protect France and the French?"
Ce dimanche, la seule vraie question qui vaille : Qui aura la volonté et le courage de protéger la France et les Français ? pic.twitter.com/ziA2JyYZ4j
— Marion Le Pen (@Marion_M_Le_Pen) April 21, 2017
Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon re-tweeted a message from Paris' mayor, Anne Hidalgo: "Sunday, I'm voting Benoit Hamon. Come vote, participate!" she said. "That's the power of being a citizen."
Dimanche, je vote @benoithamon !
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) April 21, 2017
Venez voter, participer ! C'est ça, notre pouvoir de citoyen! #Hamon2017 pic.twitter.com/4sh8JlDang
Left-wing firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon simply urged French citizens to "choose".
Dimanche 23 avril, Français.e.s, choisissez. https://t.co/tLQu96nS2s
— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) April 21, 2017
Centrist Emmanuel Macron, one of the top contenders, signed off late on Friday with a picture of a handwritten note saying: "Now, everything is in your hands."
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 21, 2017
The top two vote-getters on Sunday move into a presidential runoff on May 7 - which comes with yet another 44-hour timeout.
AP, New York Times