France votes today on EU constitution

On the eve of the referendum, final opinion polls gave an edge to the "no" camp, with the IFOP institute suggesting that up to 56 percent of voters could oppose the text, which aims to simplify the operating rules in the expanded EU.

But after a campaign that has mesmerised and polarised France, about one in five voters remains undecided, meaning that a last-minute surge in support for the "yes" camp led by President Jacques Chirac could turn the tables.

Should France -- one of the EU's six founding members -- reject the constitution, it would deal a harsh blow to the 72-year-old Chirac, who just celebrated 10 years in office, and compromise his political legacy.

It could also leave the treaty dead in its tracks and plunge the EU into a period of uncertainty, as all 25 member states must approve the constitution for it to take effect.

"Europe at stake," read the front-page headline of the left-leaning daily Liberation on Saturday, with two dice spelling out the words "oui" and "non".

Chirac's ruling centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) is campaigning alongside its junior partner in government, the Union for French Democracy (UDF), as well as the opposition Socialist party (PS) and the Greens.

They are battling a disparate "no" camp made up of the far-right National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the Communist and Trotskyist parties, nationalist Euroskeptics and a smattering of UMP and PS dissidents.

Voting began Saturday in France's overseas territories, with residents of the tiny archipelago of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, located off the coast of Canada, the first to cast their ballots from 1000 GMT.

As was the case for last year's regional elections, officials decided to organise voting in the territories on the eve of the referendum in France proper, so that residents would not be influenced by results from the mainland.