French presidential hopefuls in last days of campaign before first vote

The candidates for the French presidency are now in their final week of campaigning before Sunday's first round of voting cuts the field down to two.

Four out of the 11 declared candidates are serious contenders for the top two positions in the May 7 run-off which will decide who will replace Francois Hollande, polls suggest.

But the candidate for Mr Hollande's Socialist Party, Benoit Hamon, seems to have little chance of retaining the office for the party as support for the far-right, hard left, and a new centrist movement continues to surge.

Meanwhile the Republicains candidate Francois Fillon is still competitive even after becoming embroiled in a "fake jobs" row involving his wife Penelope.

While Mr Hamon is on single digit scores in polls, the four leading candidates are between 18% and 25% in predictions for the first round, meaning the race is wide open.

The far-right's Marine Le Pen and Mr Macron lead the field, but only narrowly from Mr Fillon and leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Ms Le Pen has been tipped to reach the second round in almost all the polls but they also indicate she would lose to whoever she faced in the decider.