Voters in France will begin choosing a new president on April 18, in the first round of an election to replace Emmanuel Macron.
The date was announced on Wednesday, alongside a May 2 runoff between the top two candidates from the first round.
The election promises to be the biggest test so far of the rise of the anti-immigration far-right in Europe, which is led in France by Marine Le Pen and her National Rally, or RN, party. Macron will not stand because he has already served two five-year terms and must step down before May 13.
Early opinion polls suggest RN will win the first round, even though the party has not yet picked its candidate.
Le Pen, who leads RN in Parliament, will almost certainly stand, if she is acquitted at a July 7 appeals court hearing into her five-year ban on running for public office, which followed her conviction for a fake jobs scam in the European Parliament.
