PARIS, April 10 (AFP) - French voters head to the polls for the first round of presidential elections on Sunday after a lacklustre campaign overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Some 48.7 million people are eligible to vote in Sunday’s presidential contest, choosing from a field of 12 candidates who are vying to lead the European Union’s second-largest economy and its only nuclear power.

President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to become the first incumbent to win re-election since Jacques Chirac in 2002. His challengers range from a Communist on the left to anti-immigration candidates on the far right.

The two candidates who garner the most votes will qualify for the election’s second and final round on April 24.