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French presidential elections 2017: Macron and Le Pen to face off in second round

France went  to the polls on Sunday for the first round of a bitterly fought presidential election. Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will be facing off in the second round, according to early exit-polls.

UPDATE: Centrist Emmanuel Macron won 24.01 percent of the votes in the first round of the French presidential election on Sunday, final results from the interior ministry showed on Monday.

Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen won 21.30 percent, conservative candidate Francois Fillon 20.01 percent and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon 19.58 percent.

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Socialist Benoit Hamon won 6.36 percent and nationalist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan 4.70 percent.

Among the smaller parties, Jean Lasalle won 1.21 percent, Philippe Poutou 1.09 percent, Francois Asselineau 0.92 percent, Nathalie Arthaud 0.64 percent and Jacques Cheminade 0.18 percent.

UPDATE: In a race that was too close to call up to the last minute, Macron had 23.9 percent of the votes against 21.4 percent for Le Pen, according to figures from the Interior Ministry with 96 percent of votes counted.

UPDATE: With 30 million votes counted from France’s 47 million strong electorate and pollster projections pointing to a turnout approaching 80 percent, the figures put Le Pen on 23.45 percent, Macron at 22.89 percent, conservative Francois Fillon at 19.71 percent, far-leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon on 18.51 percent

UPDATE: After waiting for more than two hours, Macron came and spoke in front of his supporters. He told them that together they changed the face of French politics. Macron also said that he was leading Le Pen, according to results.

“I want to be the president of the patriots against the threat of nationalists,” Macron told supporters.

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UPDATE: Interior Ministry stresses that partial results, which show Le Pen in the lead with 24.38% do not contain the 20 million votes cast in the country’s largest cities.

UPDATE: EU’s Junker congratulated Macron.

UPDATE: Violence broke out in Paris after the exit-polls were announced. The police warned citizens to avoid the Bastille area.

A Belgian newspaper reported that there were clashes between Marine Le Pen’s supporters and those that voted for Macron. The police intervened using tear-gas.

UPDATE: Melenchon announced that he will not endorse any candidate in the second round.

UPDATE: Martin Schultz congratulated Macron for his win and asked France’s democrats to rally up behind Macron in order to beat Le Pen in the second round.

UPDATE: Candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, which according to projections, came in fourth, announced on Facebook that he does not recognize the exit-poll number and that he is waiting for the official results. He asked commentators to show restraint as results are not in yet for France’s largest cities.

UPDATE: With 28 million votes counted, Le Pen is in the lead with 24.38%, followed by Macron with 22.78%, Fillon with 19.69% and Melenchon with 18.43%.

UPDATE: French far right leader Marine Le Pen vowed on Sunday to defend France against “rampant globalisation” after she qualified to fight out the second round of the country’s presidential election against centrist Emmanuel Macron.

“This result is historic. It puts on me a huge responsibility to defend the French nation, its unity, its security, its culture, its prosperity and its independence,” Le Pen told supporters.

“The main thing at stake in this election is the rampant globalisation that is endangering our civilisation,” she added, urging French voters to shake off the shackles of an “arrogant elite”.

UPDATE: The euro currency was quoted higher immediately after the first projections were issued, with banks quoting around $1.092 versus $1.072 on Friday evening, according to Reuters data.

UPDATE: German politicians on Sunday welcomed the projected victory of centrist Emmanuel Macron in the first round of the French presidential election, but said they remained concerned about the combined strength of the anti-European vote.

UPDATE: There are already polls suggesting that Macron will win the second round of elections. Macron is seen leading Le Pen by over 20 percentage points.

UPDATE: French President Francois Holland called Macron to congratulate him on his win.

UPDATE: In the French Peloponnese Fillon won with 35.28%, followed by Le Pen with 32.53%, Macron with 14.71% and Melenchon with 7,87%.

UPDATE: In New Caledonia, Fillon won the election with 31.13%, followed by Le Pen with 29.09% , Macron with 12.76% and Benoît Hamon was fourth with 9.34%.

UPDATE: Francois Fillon admitted defeat and said he will vote for Emmanuel Macron in second round saying that Le Pen will bankrupt France if elected.

“There is no other choice but to vote against the far right, I will vote for Emmanuel Macron,” Fillon told supporters on Sunday.

UPDATE: In Martinique, Melenchon got the most votes with 27.36%, followed by Macron with 25.53%, Fillon with 16.85% and Marine Le Pen with 10.94%.

UPDATE: Official results for Guadeloupe put Macron in the lead with 30.22%, followed by Melenchon with 24.13%, Fillon with 14.52% and Le Pen with 13.51%.

UPDATE: Senior French conservatives and Socialist presidential candidate Benoit Hamon said on Sunday that they would back centrist Emmanuel Macron in a May 7 runoff against far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

After initial projections indicated Macron and Le Pen had qualified for the second round, Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon told supporters his party had suffered an “historic blow” from its voter base and called on voters to back Macron and reject Le Pen in “the strongest possible way”.

UPDATE: The elimination of the two mainstream French parties from the first round of presidential elections on Sunday showed the deep malaise of French society, a member of centrist Emmanuel Macron’s campaign said on Sunday.

“When Macron started his campaign, they said that somebody who was not part of a major political party could not win the election. The fact that he did win shows a deep malaise in French society,” French senator Gerard Collomb, mayor of Lyon, said on France 2 television.

Benoit Hamon, candidate for the outgoing ruling socialist party was projected to get just six percent in the Harris poll while conservative candidate Francois Fillon was given just 20 percent, which would mean their elimination from the race.

Far-left contender Jean-Luc Melenchon was also given 20 percent by Harris.

UPDATE: Initial projections based on partial vote count put Macron at 24%, Le Pen at 21.8%.

UPDATE: Former French Prime Minister Raffarin calls on all democrats to stand behind Macron in second round.

UPDATE: Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are set to face each other in a May 7 runoff for the French presidency after coming first and second in Sunday’s first round of voting, early projections indicated.

In a race that was too close to call up to the last minute, Macron, a pro-European Union ex-banker and economy minister who founded his own party only a year ago, was projected to get 24 percent by the pollster Harris and 23.7 percent by Elabe.

Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigration and anti-EU National Front, was given 22 percent by both institutes.

Harris gave both conservative candidate Francois Fillon percent and far-left contender Jean-Luc Melenchon 20 percent, which would mean their elimination from the race.

UPDATE: Citing official results, DW says that Macron won the first race with 23.8%, followed by LePen with 21.6%. Fillon came in third with 20.3% and Melenchon is fourth with 19.6%.

UPDATE: Ipsos poll: Macron and Le Pen to face off in second tour.

UPDATE: Another Belgian report puts Le Pen ahead of Fillon with 22.5% to 20%.

UPDATE: Unidentified pollsters, speaking for Belgian TV said Macron won the election with 24% while Le Pen and Fillon are at 21%. Melenchon is at 19%.

Voter turnout estimated at 80%.

UPDATE: RTBF, a Belgian public network, not constrained by French law, reports that Macron is at 24% while Marine Le Pen is at 22%. Francois Fillon is third with 20,5% and Jean-Luc Melenchon is fourth with 18%. Reports say that the results are preliminary and that there is still a battle between Le Pen and Fillon for the second place.

UPDATE: The Interior Ministry is asking citizens to disregard any messages with results estimates they might receive via SMS. Authorities will not release any preliminary results before 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT).

UPDATE: Most polls in France have closed. Citizens in large cities have another hour to vote as stations will remain open until 20:00 local time.

UPDATE: Journalists and supporters have started gathering at the candidates’ headquarters waiting for the post-election speeches.

UPDATE: Contrary to French election law, which prohibits the announcement of early results before the closing of the polls, on social media, there are reports about one candidate being far ahead of the other contenders. A leaked poll shows Macron in the lead, at three points ahead of Le Pen.

UPDATE: For 17:00 local hour, in Paris, the turnout was at 64.47 %, higher than in the previous election when, for the same hour, there was a 59,14% reported attendance.

UPDATE: French polls place voter turnout between 19% and 22% for the first round of the French presidential election.

UPDATE: At midday, voter turnout in Paris was at 24.24%, compared with 21.68% in 2012. The highest presence was in the XVth arrondissement and the lowest in the IXth.

UPDATE: American president tweets about the French election.

Given her views on immigration and economic policy, political pundits called Marine Le Pen, “France’s Donald Trump.” Prior to the election, in an interview with the Associated Press, Trump offered his support for Le Pen saying that she is “strongest on borders”.

Trump’s tweet about the French election comes after Emmanuel Macron published a picture on social media saying it was taken during a phone call with former US President Barack Obama. Macron’s supporters speculated that the candidate could have the endorsement of the former president.

UPDATE: The final abstention rate in the first round of the French presidential election is likely to be around 20 percent, broadly in line with that of five years ago, according to two surveys published on Sunday.

A survey from Harris Interactive estimated the final abstention rate at 21.5 percent, while one from Ifop-Fiducial for Paris Match and CNews put the abstention rate at 19 percent, according to Reuters.

The abstention rate was 20.52 percent in 2012, according to interior ministry figures.

UPDATE: Turnout, for local time 17:00 (15:00 GMT), in the first round of the French presidential election is at 69.42%, compared with 70.59 in 2012 and 73.87 in 2007. In 2002, for the same hour, voter turnout was at 58.45%.

UPDATE: The lowest turnout was recorded in Val-d’Oise while the highest was reported for Gers with 38.46%. In Paris, the preliminary report coming form the Ministry of Interior shows an attendance of 24.24%, compared with 21.69% in 2012.

UPDATE: French expats are complaining about the long queues. In Melbourne, French citizens say that they have been waiting in line for at least three hours. In London, according to social media reports, the average waiting time is two hours.

Large number of voters have also been reported in other countries as well.

UPDATE: French press reports that a polling station in Paris’  XXe arrondissement was closed down also because of an abandoned vehicle. Officers are on the scene.

UPDATE: The incident in Besançon, regarding a suspect car parked near polling stations has been resolved, according to Le Monde. Journalists say that the vehicle, a black Peugeot 308, was left, with its engine running, by two men. Reports say that a gun was found in the car by explosive experts on site.

Police officials say that there is no evidence to suspect the incident is terrorist in nature.

The polling station was reopened with authorities managing to secure a second entrance to the voting building.

UPDATE: Jean-Luc Mélenchon arrived at the polls. He was the last candidate to vote.

UPDATE: The French overseas territories reported voter turnout for 17:00 local hour. In Martinique, attendance was at 34.82 % compared with 36,5 % in 2012. In French Guiana turnout was at 37.31% vs. 45.73 % in 2012. In Guadeloupe the presence at 17:00 local time was 34,17 %, compared with 41,98 %.

The French overseas territories are expected to give their final voter turnout data Sunday after-noon.

The French overseas territories voted on Saturday.

UPDATE: Candidate Francois Fillon arrived at his polling station in Paris but has to stand in line.

UPDATE: According to the Ministry of Interior, at 10:00 GMT, polling stations reported a 28.54 percent turnout, compared with 28.29 in 2012 and 31.21 in 2007, for the same hour.

UPDATE: A polling station in the town of Besançon in eastern France was evacuated on Sunday after a stolen vehicle was abandoned with the engine running while voting was taking place, French Interior Ministry said.

The suspicious car was flagged as stolen and had fake number plates, a ministry official told Reuters, adding that a decision was made to evacuate the polling station, while bomb disposal experts were called to examine the vehicle.

A local newspaper reported that another station in Saint-Omer was also closed and evacuated due to a suspicious car.

UPDATE: Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen voted in Hénin-Beaumont and headed to the poll accompanied by the local mayor.

An incident took place at Le Pen’s polling station due to a Femen activists, French press reports. The police intervened.

There was also another incident at the same polling station, involving an AFP photojournalist. Images are showing the reporter being arrested by the attending officers. Other journalists asked the police for an official statement regarding the incident.

UPDATE: Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron voted in Touquet, together with his wife.

Benoît Hamon and Philippe Poutou, both presidential contenders, also voted in the morning.

UPDATE: Hong Kong and Tokyo are also seeing large turnouts, social media posts show.

UPDATE: French president Francois Holland voted in Tulle, in his electoral fiefdom. Surrounded by press, Holland shook hands and talked with locals before heading for Paris.

UPDATE: French news outlets report a high voter turnout in the morning, in several regions, including Paris.

UPDATE: French citizens living abroad have also started voting. On Saturday, voters were queuing in Canada. Social media users said they had to wait in line, in some cases, for a couple of hours. Lines have already formed at polling stations in London.

Frequent appeals are made through social media in order to get citizens to the polls as surveys showed that France could be facing a record low turnout.

Social media reports say that people are standing in line to vote in other countries as well.

UPDATE: Authorities heightened security measures for the election. More than 50,000 officers will be guarding the polling stations.

UPDATE: The 67,000 polling stations have opened at local time 8 a.m. Some 47 million voters are expected to cast their ballots.

Nearly 47 million voters will decide, under tight security, whether to back a pro-EU centrist newcomer, a scandal-ridden veteran conservative who wants to slash public spending, a far-left eurosceptic admirer of Fidel Castro or appoint France’s first woman president, to shut borders and ditch the euro.

The outcome will be anxiously monitored around the world as a sign of whether the populist tide that saw Britain vote to leave the EU and Donald Trump’s election in the United States is still rising, or starting to ebb.

Emmanuel Macron, 39, a centrist ex-banker who set up his party just a year ago, is the opinion polls’ favourite to win the first round and beat far-right National Front chief Marine Le Pen in the two-person run-off on May 7.

For them to win the top two qualifying positions on Sunday would represent a seismic shift in the political landscape, as the second round would feature neither of the mainstream parties that have governed France for decades.

“It wouldn’t be the classic left vs right divide but two views of the world clashing,” said Ifop pollsters’ Jerome Fourquet. “Macron bills himself as the progressist versus conservatives, Le Pen as the patriot versus the globalists.”

But conservative Francois Fillon is making a bit of a comeback after being plagued for months by a fake jobs scandal, and leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon’s ratings have surged in recent weeks. Any two of the four is seen as having a chance to qualify for the run-off.

The seven other candidates, including the ruling Socialist party’s Benoit Hamon, two Trotskyists, three fringe nationalists and a former shepherd-turned-centrist lawmaker are lagging very far behind in opinion polls.

Months of campaigning has been dominated by scandals which have left many voters agonising over their choice. Some 20-30 percent might not vote and about 30 percent of those who plan to show up at the polling stations are unsure whom to vote for.

Adding uncertainty to France’s most unpredictable election in decades, pollsters say they might not be able to give precise estimates of the outcome at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) as usual, because small and medium-sized polling stations will be open one hour longer than in past elections.

Bankers and brokers in Paris and far beyond are expected to be glued to their screens all evening. The possibility of a Le Pen-Melenchon run-off is not the most likely scenario but is one which alarms them.

While Macron wants to further beef up the euro zone, Le Pen has told supporters “the EU will die.” She wants to return to the Franc, re-denominate the country’s debt stock, tax imports and reject international treaties.

Melenchon also wants to radically overhaul the European Union and hold a referendum on whether to leave the bloc.

Le Pen or Melenchon would struggle, in parliamentary elections in June, to win a majority to carry out such radical moves, but their growing popularity worries both investors and France’s EU partners.

“It is no secret that we will not be cheering madly should Sunday’s result produce a second round between Le Pen and Melenchon,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said, adding that the election posed a risk to the global economy.

Both U.S. President Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama have shown interest in the vote.

Obama spoke with Macron over the phone on Thursday, and Trump said the following day he expected the killing of a policeman by a suspected Islamist in Paris to boost Le Pen’s chances.

Previous militant attacks, such as the November 2015 killings in Paris ahead of regional polls, did not appear to boost the votes of those espousing tougher national security.

If either Macron or Fillon were victorious, each would face challenges.

For Macron, a big question would be whether he could win a majority in parliament in June. Fillon, though likely to struggle less to get a majority, would likely be dogged by an embezzlement scandal, in which he denies wrongdoing.

Some 67,000 polling stations will open at 8 a.m., monitored by more than 50,000 police officers.

Reuters

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