Deep in the picturesque rolling countryside of Normandy, the supporters of France’s far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen are hoping for an election shockwave.
Here in Le Pen ’s heartlands, elderly voters like Denis Benoest, 72, and Grognier Huguette, 75, want to oust Emmanuel Macron from the Elysee Palace in Paris, and put in his place a woman viewed as a puppet of Vladimir Putin.
In the village of Saint-Riquier-en-Riviere, a few minutes from where we meet, more than 60% of the local population voted for anti-immigration hardliner Le Pen, 53.
It is a bucolic setting, a picture-postcard vision of the gentle good life in France, but many in the north of the country are unhappy.
They welcome Le Pen’s controversial policies.
Watering the flowers in their perfectly-tended garden, Denis, who retired as a professional gardener 15 years before, says: “Marine Le Pen will be better for people like us. She understands our problems.
“She is against immigration, and I am very happy to vote for that. I voted for her in the first round, and I will do so again on Sunday.”
The daughter of racist rabble-rouser Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine is planning a raft of crackdowns on those born outside France.
Long a source of intense debate in France, Le Pen plans to forbid Muslim women from wearing a hijab veil in public - but does not want to place restrictions on any other religions.
She wants to end the family reunification of migrants, and to ensure that French nationals are given priority access to social housing and employment.
Like British Home Secretary Priti Patel, she also wants asylum applications to be processed abroad, and for so-called "illegal" immigrants to be expelled.
Although she has toned down the rhetoric, and made the far-right more presentable after ejecting her own father from the party, she is no less extreme.
A win for her National Rally party - previously the National Front - also massively increases the chances of France leaving the European Union.
After the Brexit vote in 2016, a “Frexit” would almost certainly lead to the disintegration of the Brussels project.
Unlike five years ago, when Macron, 44, swept into power after beating Le Pen easily, with 66% in the presidential second round run-off, this weekend’s vote is predicted to be tighter.
Latest polls put Macron, 44, on 54% and Le Pen on 46%, but millions of voters are still undecided.
In the first round of voting on April 10, the left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon gained more than 21% of the total, 7.7 million votes, just behind Le Pen.
Most of those who voted for him, often students and young people, would be unlikely to back Le Pen.
But their anger with Macron after five years in office because of reforms to pensions and the high cost of living means they will just not bother turning out at the polling station.
Macron’s supporters say a low turn-out will just increase the chances of Le Pen getting into power through the back door.
Failing to turn out to vote, warned the Macron ally Christophe Castaner, was like playing “Russian roulette” with the prospect of a far-right presidency.
Not only would this game of Russian roulette cause ruptures in France not seen since World War Two, it would also give the Kremlin a new ally despite outrage at the war in Ukraine.
Le Pen has long been criticised for being too close to Putin having recognised Russia 's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and her party took a loan from a Russian bank that same year. During this week’s crucial debate between the candidates Macron alleged: "You're speaking to your banker, not another world leader, when you speak to Russia."
At the Lutetia cafe in Le Havre, Senegal-born electrician Miguel Deme, 36, admits he is worried by the prospect of a Le Pen presidency.
“She looks more professional than before, the presentation is better, but the racist extremism is still there,” he says. “I will be voting for Macron on Sunday, even though I did not vote for him in the first round, just because I want to make sure she does not get in.”
His friend Erwand Deloffre, 43, however, says he will not vote because he dislikes both candidates equally.
Another regular, council worker Charline Hue, 39, a mother-of-three, describes the vote on Sunday as being “like a choice between cholera and the plague”.
“The situation is very depressing,” she adds. “I don’t want to vote for either of them. I am most afraid of Le Pen though. If she gets in it will be like a civil war in France. People will divide into clans; it will create more hatred between people.”
In 1995, Jean-Marie Le Pen got less than 15% of the vote in most of France. Now his daughter is on the brink of a remarkable turnaround for her disdained family.
A win would mean success at last for the Le Pens, but a dangerous failure for one of Europe’s most multicultural countries.
