French polling agencies have projected that incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen are heading for another winner-takes-all runoff in the French presidential election, with their political rivalry and sharply opposing visions pulling clear of a crowded field of 12 candidates in the first round of voting.
When the vote count is officially confirmed overnight, the pollsters’ initial projections mean France is gearing up for a repeat of the 2017 head-to-head contest that brought Macron to power, but there is no guarantee that this time the outcome will be the same.
