PARIS (AP) - The final hours of many election campaigns are frantic affairs, dominated by last-minute pitches, late-breaking polls and massive social media campaigns. Not so in France - even amid a presidential campaign.
Rules dating back more than half a century impose a 44-hour time out ahead of the polls' closure Sunday, meaning that politicians, journalists and even ordinary citizens are supposed to refrain from broadcasting anything about the French presidential election.
The Twitter feeds of France's 11 candidates went quiet after midnight Friday.
The national time out lasts until 8 p.m. Sunday. It's intended to give voters time to reflect on their choice free from media distractions.
Sunday's first-round presidential ballot is the most nail-biting French election in generations. The government has mobilized more than 50,000 police and gendarmes to protect 70,000 polling stations, with an additional 7,000 soldiers on patrol.