France's election campaign watchdog is investigating a hacking attack and document leak targeting presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron that his political movement calls a last-ditch bid to disrupt Sunday's tense runoff vote.
The commission said Saturday that leaked data apparently came from Macron's "information systems and mail accounts from some of his campaign managers". It recalled similar leaks from Hillary Clinton's USA presidential campaign, which also said that authentic documents were mixed with false ones.
The commission urged French media and citizens "not to relay" the leaked documents "in order not to alter the sincerity of the vote".
US far-right activists helped amplify a leak of hacked emails belonging to leading French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron's campaign, some researchers said on Saturday, with automated bots and the Twitter account of WikiLeaks also propelling a leak that came two days before France's presidential vote.
Voting started in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon off the coast of Canada at noon Paris time and one hour later in French Guiana, in South America. The ban is due to stay in place until the last polling stations close Sunday at 8 pm. "It is therefore important to consider the nature of the leaked documents, to be fully aware of the fact that a large part of them are purely and simply fake, and the appropriateness of giving an echo to this destabilization operation". It's unclear whether the document dump will dent the large polling lead Macron held over Le Pen going into the vote.
After ditching France's traditional left-right political parties in a first-round presidential ballot, voters were choosing between Macron's business-friendly vision and Le Pen's protectionist, closed-borders view.
France is the latest nation to see a major election overshadowed by allegations of manipulation through cyber hacking after US intelligence agencies said in January that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered hacking of parties tied to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to influence the election on behalf of Republican Donald Trump. The leak began just before the blackout descended at midnight, in theatrical timing fitting for the dramatic campaign.
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In its statement, En Marche! said it had been the victim of a massive computer hack, and that a range of documents - including e-mails, contracts and financial records - had been posted on various websites.
The Macron team asked the campaign oversight commission to bring in cybersecurity agency ANSSI to study the hack, according to a government official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the details publicly.
Fears of hacking, fake news manipulation and Russian meddling clouded the French campaign but had largely gone unrealised until Friday's admission by Mr Macron's campaign of the online pirate attack. Amid allegations of Russian hacking and "influence campaigns" during the US presidential election that continue to be a point of contention and concern between Americans, news of the hack stirred theories of another attack to undermine the electoral process.
In Henin-Beaumont in northern France, where Le Pen will cast her ballot on Sunday, 28-year-old Thomas Delannoy said the campaign "looks like reality TV".
If Le Pen wins, she plans to celebrate at the Chalet du Lac in the Bois de Vincennes, a vast park on Paris' eastern edge.
The campaign has been unusually bitter, with voters hurling eggs and flour, protesters clashing with police and the candidates insulting each other on national television - a reflection of the country's deep divisions. Mr. Macron, an ex-banker, has never run for elected office, and Ms. Le Pen's party has been on the margins of French politics for 40 years. She took 7.7-million votes in the first round, which was the best showing by the National Front, and she could claim up to 13-million votes on Sunday, based on opinion polls.
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