Le Pen Macron
The centrist Emmanuel Macron will face far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a run-off for the French presidency on 7 May, multiple projections indicate.
An Ipsos/Sopra Steria poll puts Mr. Macron on 23.7% in first-round voting with Ms. Le Pen on 21.7%.
Opinion polls prior to the vote consistently predicted Mr. Macron defeating his rival in the run-off.
The two fought off a strong challenge from centre-right François Fillon and hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Another projection, from TF1/RTL, put Mr. Macron and Ms. Le Pen neck and neck in the first round. Final results are expected in the coming hours.
With about two-thirds of the vote counted, official figures show Ms. Le Pen ahead on 23.5%, with Mr Macron close behind on 23%. But full results from big cities are still to come in.
Whoever wins the next round, the voting marks a shift away from the decades-long dominance of leftist and centre-right parties in French politics.
While Ms. Le Pen has long been seen as likely to make the second round, Emmanuel Macron’s rise has been swift. The BBC’s Hugh Schofield says Mr. Macron’s likely victory is the story of the evening.
He told cheering supporters “we have changed the face of French political life in one year”, calling for people to rally against “nationalists”.
A former banker, Mr. Macron served as economy minister under current President Francois Hollande, quitting to launch a new party.
He has never stood for election before and if he wins would become France’s youngest-ever president.
A pro-European, he has called for gradual deregulation of France’s economy and a multi-billion dollar public investment plan.
As the projections came in, Ms. Le Pen called herself “the candidate for the people”, saying that the “survival of France” was at stake.
“The first step… has been taken,” she said. “This result is historic,”
Ms. Le Pen leads the Eurosceptic, anti-immigrant National Front party. She has attempted to soften the party’s tone and brought big gains in the 2015 regional elections.
She has urged a shake-up of France’s relations with the EU, calling for negotiations followed by a referendum.
Ms. Le Pen also wants immigration to be slashed and the closure of “extremist” mosques.
Mr. Macron is widely seen as favourite in the final round of voting, and in a sign of the uphill struggle, Ms. Le Pen faces he soon won high-profile endorsements.
Admitting defeat, François Fillon, whose campaign was rocked by corruption allegations, said there was “no other choice” but to vote for Mr. Macron.
Projections give him around 19% of the vote, the same as Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has so far only said he and his team do not “acknowledge the result on the basis of polls”.
Source BBC