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(Image: TWITTER)

Voters were evacuated as police armed with machine guns were deployed the polling station in Besançon, eastern France.

A suspicious car abandoned with the engine running outside the hall was flagged as stolen and had fake number plates.

Bomb disposal experts were called the examine the vehicle, the French Interior Ministry said.

The key EU nation goes to the polls today in election dominated by security fears seized upon by far-right leader of the National Front Marine Le Pen.

Security officials have said there is a risk during the elections of a militant attack like the ones that have killed more than 230 people in the past two years in France.

Just last week, a policeman was shot dead by an ISIS-supporting gunman in Paris.

More than 50,000 police and elite security units have been mobilised for election duty across France.

Immigration, terror and the future of France in the EU all loom over the first round of the election - with the second due for May 7.