President Emmanuel Macron is set to face his nationalist rival Marine Le Pen in the final round of the French election in a rerun of their 2017 contest.
Macron got around 28% of the vote compared with about 24% for Le Pen, according to pollsters’ projections based on partial results from Sunday’s initial ballot. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon was third with around 20%. The top two candidates will go forward to a runoff on April 24 to decide who will lead Europe’s second-biggest economy.
“The game isn’t over yet,” the 44-year-old president told supporters at a rally in the French capital. One snap poll of 1,700 voters taken by OpinionWay after voting closed in Sunday showed Macron leading Le Pen by 54% to 46%. Another survey of almost 1,000 people by Ifop had him ahead by 51% to 49%, less than the margin of error.
