Most of the major candidates canceled campaign events that had been scheduled for Friday after a police officer was killed and two others injured in a shooting late Thursday that the government was treating as a terrorist attack.
Surveys suggest that almost a quarter of voters are still undecided and that until now the French have been more concerned about jobs and the economy than terrorism. It recalled two recent attacks on French soldiers providing security at prominent locations around Paris: one at the Louvre museum in February and one at Orly airport last month.
The policeman killed Thursday was identified as Xavier Jugele, a French association of LGBT police officers.
President Trump said Friday that a deadly terrorist attack in Paris on Thursday is likely to help far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen in the first round of the country's upcoming election.
Her three main competitors all dropped half a point each, but front-runner Emmanuel Macron is now considered a lock to finish in the top two Sunday with 24.5 percent's support.
Though a note sympathizing with Islamic State was found near Cheurfi's body, the prosecutors said that he wasn't radicalised.
Bloodshed had always been feared ahead of Sunday's first round of the election after a string of attacks since 2015, and the shooting propelled the jihadist threat to the fore.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the attack, which also left the shooter dead. Le Pen was the only major French candidate to support Trump, who pledged to crack down on immigration, during last year's USA presidential election.
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Yet until today , it could have been argued that an election can hardly be defined by an issue on which both main parties largely agree.
Bloodshed had always been feared ahead of Sunday's first round after a string of militant atrocities since 2015, and the shooting on the Champs-Elysees forced security to the top of the agenda in the campaign.
Le Pen, who has spoken in increasingly inflammatory terms during her campaign, said the police targeted in the attack "have paid the price of the fight against radical Islamism, this monstrous, totalitarian ideology that has declared war on our nation, on reason and civilization".
Le Pen, who has campaigned on anti-immigration views and a strong security stance, is seeking to give her campaign a last boost ahead of Sunday's vote for the first round of the presidential election.
Meters from the polling station where Le Pen was heading to vote, several feminist activists from the Femen group were arrested after staging a topless protest against the far-right leader, who is the only major female contender in the race. But the prosecutor said there was "a lack of known elements of radicalization" in the suspect's past and he was released for lack of evidence of a threat. Three family members were detained.
El Osri's connection with either Cheurfi or the man named in Islamic State's statement remained unclear on Friday.
National security is a burning issue for many in France after attacks by militant Islamists across the country have killed more than 230 people over the past two years.
"What could have an impact is if the candidates try to use the attack" for political gain, he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that it "will have a big effect" on the election and that "the people of France will not take much more of this".
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