Quick guide: How the French presidential election works

Ballots for the French presidential election.
This picture, taken on May 5, 2017 ballots for French presidential election candidate for the En Marche ! movement, Emmanuel Macron (L) and French presidential election candidate for the far-right Front National Marine Le Pen and on a ballot box at a polling station in Rennes, western France, two days ahead of the second-round run-off of France's presidential election.
Damien Meyer | Getty

A quick guide to the logistics of the winner-takes-all final round of voting Sunday that will elect France's new president:

The runoff election

Just two candidates: Emmanuel Macron, 39, a pro-business, pro-European Union centrist; Marine Le Pen, 48, an anti-EU "French-first" far-right nationalist.

They qualified for the presidential runoff as the top two vote-winners from a field of 11 candidates in the first-round ballot on April 23. On Sunday, they start afresh, with only their votes in the second round counted. The winner is elected to a five-year term.

Voters

47 million people are eligible.

Polling

About 70,000 polling stations around France open at 8 a.m. Sunday, for a maximum of 12 hours. Voting in French overseas territories starts Saturday.

Results

Partial results and polling agency projections expected from 8 p.m. Sunday.

What's next

To govern effectively, the president will need a parliamentary majority to pass his or her proposed laws. All 577 seats in the French National Assembly are up for grabs in next month's legislative elections, also held over two rounds, on June 11 and 18.