Macron to face far-right Le Pen in presidential election runoff
French incumbent President Emmanuel Macron leads far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the first round of France’s elections Sunday with the rivals now set to battle for the presidency in a second-round run-off on April 24, according to projections by polling firms for French television channels based on a sample of votes.
A French public broadcaster had earlier projected incumbent centrist President Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen will advance to a presidential election runoff as a result of Sunday’s first round.
Macron gained support for his response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while Le Pen pledged to improve people’s standards of living amid surging prices.
French voters took to the polls on Sunday in what was expected to be a tight race for the 12 presidential candidates contesting for leadership of Europe’s second-largest economy.
Turnout was at 65% at 5:00 pm CET, several points lower than what it was at that time in the last election in 2017.
Several candidates have called on their supporters to vote against the far-right in the runoff election on 24 April including Yannick Jadot, Anne Hidalgo, and Valérie Pécresse.
Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon came in third in the first round of the election, just a few points behind Marine Le Pen.
France’s traditional left and right parties have ‘collapsed almost completely’, an expert told Euronews of the election results. Both the Socialists and Republicans looked set to receive under 5% of the vote, which means they will have to pay for their campaign costs.
The abstention rate was at 25.16%, which is high for a presidential record but not a record.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron voiced regret on Friday for starting campaigning late as opinion polls showed him holding a slender lead over the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who he warned would scare investors away from France.
Le Pen has surged in the polls in recent weeks and is expected to face off in the second round against Macron, whose re-election was thought to be a foregone conclusion even a few weeks ago.
