France Election 2017: Marine Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron Profiles Ahead Of Sunday's Results

The French presidential election Sunday will include two very different candidates. Emmanuel Macron, a member of the socially liberal En Marche!, will go head-to-head with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Front.

Perhaps riding a wave of nativist sentiment of the U.K, and U.S. in recent months, the National Front party has emerged as more of a force in France under Le Pen than under her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. It has been a 45-year struggle for mainstream acceptance by the NFP, with the party failing to even receive 1 percent of the vote in the 1974 election. In the 2007 presidential election, the party finished fourth and received just 10.44 percent of the vote and fared better in 2012, finishing third with 17.9 percent.

En Marche!, which means "on the move," was founded last year by Macron, with a progressive movement intended to unite multiple political platforms. Macron is attempting to become the first candidate from outside an established party to be elected president of France.

This election may have shifted from personalities to politics, with two candidates running on starkly different policies and visions. Macron holds a commanding lead in polls.

Marine Le Pen

Le Pen, 48, is a lawyer who was raised Roman Catholic. When she was 8 years old, her family's flat was blown up in a bomb attack, though it did not result in any deaths. Le Pen has been active in politics since she was 13 years old, accompanying her father on his campaigns.

There has been a great deal of attention surrounding Le Pen's social views, which have included banning yarmulkes and other religious head coverings.

She has vowed to strengthen security, withdraw France from integrated military command of NATO, impose an immediate moratorium on immigration, and end free education to children of undocumented migrants. She has also campaigned to bring back the franc.

“What is at stake in this election is a referendum for or against lawless globalization,” Le Pen said after reaching the runoff with Macron. “Either you choose in favor of a total lack of rules, without borders, with unlawful competition, the free circulation of terrorists, or you make the choice of a France that protects."

Emmanuel Macron

The 39-year-old is a former banker who has served as an economic advisor to Francois Hollande and has never been elected to a political office. Macron spent three years as a member of the Socialist Party and then became an independent politician in 2009. In 2007, he married his high school drama teacher, who was 24 years his senior.

Macron has stated the has "neither left nor right" but has shown leftist stance on social issues is pro-business. He has vowed to expand unemployment benefits, overhaul the retirement system and hire 5,000 teachers and 10,000 police officers.

In a recent debate, Macron stated that defending against terrorism would be a top priority and he attacked Le Pen for her draconian stance.

"I will lead a fight against Islamist terrorism at every level. But what they are wanting, the trap they are holding out for us is the one that you offer: civil war," Macron said.

Former U.S. president Barack Obama has endorsed Macron. If elected, Macron would be the youngest French leader since Napoleon.