Emmanuel Macron of the centrist En Marche! movement and Marine Le Pen of the National Front will fight for the French presidency after advancing to the second round of the country's presidential election. Macron won 23.7% of votes in the first round, while Le Pen took 21.5% - the two will run-off on May 7.
24 April 2017
French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen will temporarily step down as the head of the National Front party to focus on her election campaign in the lead up to the May 7 runoff against centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron.
"Tonight, I am no longer the president of the National Front. I am the presidential candidate," Le Pen announced while appearing on French national television news, as cited by the AP.
Final results from France’s Interior Ministry show Macron won 24.01 percent of votes in Sunday’s election, while Le Pen came in second with 21.30.
- Conservative candidate Francois Fillon: 20.01
- Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon: 19.58
- Socialist Benoit Hamon: 6.36
- Nationalist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan: 4.70
From the smaller parties, Lasalle won 1.21 percent, Philippe Poutou 1.09, François Asselineau 0.92, Nathalie Arthaud 0.64 and Jacques Cheminade 0.18.
French President Francois Hollande has called on all voters to back Macron.
"I will vote for Emmanuel Macron. Emmanuel Macron is the one who today defends the values that make it possible for the French people to unite," Hollande said Monday in a short speech.
"It is my duty to define once again what I consider to be at stake in this election...The renewed presence of the extreme right poses a risk to our country...Faced with such a risk, it is not possible to be silent. The unity of our nation is at stake," he said.
Hong Kong stocks rose Monday following the election result, as Macron, the markets’ favored candidate, proceeded to the election run-off.
The Hang Seng index rose 0.4 percent, to 24,139.48, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.6 percent, to 10,107.63 points, Reuters reported.
Le Pen adviser Jérôme Rivière described the National Front candidate as battling against the pro-EU “open borders” Macron.
“People are fed up... Macron is not talking about France, but about Europe only,” he told the BBC.
“We don’t like the EU, we want to gain our sovereignty back... all we have been saying is we want to go back to this Europe of nations.”
Florian Philippot, Deputy leader of Le Pen’s National Front, told French media that Macron was “arrogant” and “speaking as if he had won already.”
“Emmanuel is not a patriot. He sold off national companies. He criticised French culture,” he said, adding that his victory dinner was “bling-bling biz.”
Opinion polls from Sunday show Macron defeating Le Pen in the run-off vote.
The euro rose by two percent as market concern over the currency’s volatility eased following the election result, which fell in line with opinion polls.
“We see markets pricing in some remaining political risk, given the potential for surprises in the next two weeks. Any significant shift toward Le Pen in the polls could dampen investor sentiment due to her anti-euro stance,” analysts at BlackRock investment group said in a statement.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said it’s vital for France and for Europe that Emmanuel Macron wins May’s presidential run-off.
“It's important for France because he has the courage and the strength to lead the country out of its lethargy,” said Gabriel.
He added that a Le Pen victory would “push Europe deeper into crisis,” while a Macron win would have the opposite effect and signal a “new beginning for Europe.”
Jean-Robert Raviot, Professor, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, Doctor of Political Science, told RT that the fact that no major political party advanced to the run-off indicates a deepening political crisis and signals “a very big need for a new political class.”
“This is a sign of a big crisis in the political system, which shows that first of all that the primary system that has been introduced in 2012 election and in this election does not work,” he told RT, adding that the very narrow results of the first round also point to an increased polarization of French society which is destined “to be divided” after the election.
While the vote could be formally seen as a defeat for mainstream political parties, Raviot argued that Macron, despite striving to portray himself as an independent, is a direct continuation of the French government.
“Macron is seen at the same time as an anti-system candidate, as he wants to present himself as an anti-system candidate, but in a way he is a very systemic candidate, because he is also the candidate of the French government, part of it,” Raviot noted, adding that it is going to become clear “very soon” that “Macron is an incumbent candidate, in fact.”
Speaking on the chances of Marine Le Pen to tip the scales in her favor in the second round, Raviot said that while he believes the prospect of her winning to be unlikely, a lot will depend on the turnout.
“Nothing is predictable. Because everything depends on how many people would go to vote on the 7th of May and it could be that Marine Le Pen would go through, but I think it’s highly improbable.”
The French establishment and leading EU politicians, including Francois Hollande and Federica Mogherini, have rushed to praise Emmanuel Macron ahead of the presidential runoff vote. Some have openly called for the defeat of his rival, Marine Le Pen. READ MORE:
Macron won 23.75 percent of the votes, while his rival Le Pen got 21.53 percent, the Interior Ministry final figured showed, as cited by Reuters.
Republican Francois Fillon and independent leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon got 19.91 percent and 19.64 percent, respectively.
Emmanuel Macron has gained 23.86 percent of the vote, while Marine Le Pen got 21.43 percent, with 97 percent of ballots counted, Interior Ministry data shows.
While Jean Lassalle of Resistors! may have barely passed the 1 percent threshold, claiming a little more than 1.2 percent of the total vote with 97 percent of all ballots counted, he managed to outrun both Macron and Le Pen in his native commune of Lourdios-Ichère in southwest France, with his closest rival Fillon gaining 9.09 percent and the two election leaders only 6.52 percent and 4.35 percent respectively. Lassalle has been the mayor of the commune, where a total of 122 people voted, for over 40 years.
People on social media are calling for a boycott of the runoff election under the hashtag #SansMoiLe7Mai (the 7th of May without me).
Marine Le Pen gained the support of less than 5 percent of voters living in Paris, according to data from the Interior Ministry, as cited by the media.
Protesters against the results of the elections took to the streets of Rouen, a city in the northern French region of Normandy. They said they stood neither for Macron, nor for Le Pen.
Violent protests took place in the city of Rennes in northwestern France.
People in the city of Nantes in western France staged a protest against the results of the elections. “Neither Macron, nor Le Pen. Long live elections,” said the banners of the demonstrators.
According to French media, the rallies in Nantes turned violent, with protesters clashing with police.
Hashtag #NuitDesBarricades (Night of the Barricades) is trending on social media, calling upon French voters to join the protest against the election results.
While some of the candidates eliminated in the first round of the presidential election have already backed Macron, others have distanced themselves from both leading candidates.
François Asselineau, candidate of the Republican People's Union, lashed out at Macron, calling him “a puppet of the financial oligarchy,” while addressing his supporters on Sunday night. He was of a similar unfavorable opinion about Marine Le Pen, saying, “It is the Le Pen family that keeps the system in place.” He predicted “the seventh defeat” for the Le Pen family in presidential elections.
The chairman of the Christian Democratic Party, Jean-Frédéric Poisson, also refused to endorse either of the candidates in the runoff.
“It is a matter of belief. But I think that @EmmanuelMacron and @MLP_officiel [Marine Le Pen] are disaster scenarios,” he wrote on Twitter.
Danish PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen has joined the chorus of European conservatives expressing their support for Macron.
"Congratulations @EmmanuelMacron. We should await the final election, but Europe needs an open-minded and reform oriented France. Good luck!" he wrote on Twitter.
Steeve Briois, Mayor of Henin-Beaumont, a city in northern France where the National Front has its party headquarters, told RT he believes Marine Le Pen’s party has won “the ideological battle” by securing a runoff.
“Now the French people agree with the ideas that Marine Le Pen has proposed. We have won the ideological battle today, the French want more control of their borders, they want to limit migration, they want more protectionism for the national economy.”
23 April 2017
According to preliminary results, revealed by BFMTV, Marine Le Pen is leading in Corsica, while the largest administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine has chosen Emmanuel Macron.
The French Interior Ministry published a map showing the areas of the country where the candidates are in the lead.
Minor scuffles between police and kettled protesters broke out at the rally at Place de la République, RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij reported earlier from Paris. Tear gas was deployed by police.
With 46 out of 47 million ballots counted, Macron leads with 23.82 percent, Le Pen stands at 21.58, while Fillon and Melenchon are trailing behind with 19.96 and 19.49 percent of the vote respectively, French Interior Ministry said as cited by Reuters.
Former European President Martin Schulz, picked by Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) to lead its challenge against German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government in September’s parliamentary elections, has called on all French democratic forces to unite behind Macron so that "a nationalist does not become president."
Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy's Northern League, a far-right opposition party and an ally of France’s National Front in the European Parliament within the Eurosceptic European of Nations and Freedom (ENF) group, congratulated Le Pen on her strong performance in the first round of the presidential election.
“Go ahead Marine, it’s time to get rid of the cage of Brussels,” he wrote on Twitter.
BFMTV reports that one voter decided to have a little fun with their ballot, enclosing a €50 note with “Pour Penelope” (For Penelope) written on it, in reference to defeated candidate François Fillon’s wife. The two have become the subject of an election scandal based on allegations that Penelope has occupied a highly-paid parliamentary aid job but never did any work in reality. Fillon has staunchly denied the allegations that became known as “Penelope Gate.”
With almost 85 percent of the votes now counted figures show Macron in the lead with 23.35 percent with Marine le Pen a close second with 22.47, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders has congratulated Marine Le Pen via Twitter. "A day of celebration for all Patriots in Europe. On to the 2nd round and the Presidency!" Wilders wrote.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has openly endorsed Emmanuel Macron for the French presidency in a Twitter message after the preliminary results pointed to his lead in the first round.
"To see the flags of France and the EU hailing Emmanuel Macron's result shows hope and the future of our generation," she wrote.
#NuitDesBarricade (Night of barricades) is trending on Twitter as the rallying cry for the ongoing protests which are taking place throughout France this evening.
The chairman of the Russian Duma's Committee for International Relations, Konstantin Kosachev, has compared the choice French citizens face to the one US voters had to make during the US presidential elections in November that propelled Donald Trump to the White House.
“The first impression from the French elections: very similar to the US elections. Then, as well as here in the second round, the battle will be fought between the desperation to preserve the old policy, on the one hand, and hope for change, on the other,” Kosachev wrote in a Facebook post, noting that unlike in France, “the hopelessness was female” in the US.
AP reports that three people have been detained as clashes between protesters and police continue in Paris, while Le Parisien reports that two people have been injured.
The French Ministry of the Interior has published a map showing the areas in which counting has been completed.
German MP and Angela Merkel’s chief of staff Peter Altmaier has tweeted his thoughts on the latest polling data, stating that the result shows that “France and Europe can jointly win!”
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert has tweeted his support for Macron’s pro-EU and social market economy platform, wishing him “All the best for the next 2 weeks.”
With 33.2 million votes (over 60 percent of total votes) counted, the Ministry of the Interior puts Macron marginally ahead with 23.11 percent of the votes and Le Pen with 23.08 reports Reuters.
German Vice Chancellor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel has expressed his support for Macron and is glad that “the only Pro-European candidate” is leading in the French elections.
In preparation for victory in the presidential runoff, Macron says he will seek to build a parliamentary majority as early as tomorrow reports Reuters.
Macron has addressed his supporters telling the crowd: “In one year we have changed the face of French politics.”
He thanked the millions who voted for him and thanked former competitors Fillon and Hamon for their endorsement in the second round runoff.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has wished Emmanuel Macron well in the runoff according to Reuters.
This is a historic election for France and will mark the first time in modern history that no major party candidate will advance to the second round of a presidential election.
Presidential hopeful Jean-Luc Mélenchon has said he will not endorse anyone in the second round and that he will respect the official results when announced.
Riot police have been deployed throughout the French capital as protests continue.
France’s largest union, CFDT, makes a call to arms against the National Front and backs Macron in round two of the election.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon has taken to Facebook saying that he and his team do not "acknowledge the result on the basis of polls.” He also called on commentators to exercise caution when reporting on the election.
With 20 million votes now counted, preliminary figures show Le Pen in the lead with 24.38 percent and Macron on 22.19 reports Reuters.
Le Pen called for a gathering of all patriots in her speech to the crowd of National Front supporters.
Marine Le Pen is addressing her supporters saying that a great debate about globalization can now finally take place. She also said that she will "free the French people from arrogant elites," adding that the country's "survival is at stake."
Incumbent President François Hollande has called to congratulate Macron on his first round victory reports Reuters.
French riot police have fired tear gas at protesters who gathered at the Place de la Bastille in central Paris after preliminary results of the first round of the election were announced.
Protests in Paris in the aftermath of the vote have turned violent with smoke grenades, flares and glass bottles thrown at police.
Updated figures show Macron in the lead with up to 24 percent of the vote and Le Pen in second place with up to 23 percent.
Conservative candidate François Fillon has conceded defeat in the election, claiming sole responsibility for the defeat, reports Reuters. He added that he would vote for Macron in round two and that Le Pen would lead the country to failure.
“France is turning a page,” presidential candidate Macron said in a statement to the AFP. "The French have expressed their desire for change… We're clearly turning a page in French political history," he added.
Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has also called on democrats to back Macron reports Reuters.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault calls for Republicans to mobilize and vote for Macron in round two of the election.
These were the scenes inside Le Pen HQ as it was announced she will likely make it into the second round.
Socialist party candidate Benoît Hamon has called on voters to defeat Le Pen’s National Front while also taking full responsibility for the party’s dismal performance in the election.
Former conservative Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has called on all democrats to rally behind Emmanuel Macron in the second round of voting.
Emmanuel Macron of the centrist En Marche! party leads in the first round of the presidential elections in France early projections show. Marine Le Pen of the National Front is expected to finish the tightly contested race in second place.
Polling stations have now closed across France. Counting has already begun in several towns.
The Ministry of the Interior has tweeted a warning to voters about the circulation of fake SMS messages. The Ministry said that anyone receiving "fake texts predicting results" should ignore them as it does not communicate with the general public via text message.
A large crowd has gathered outside Marine Le Pen HQ in Henin-Beaumont.
Security is extremely tight at the headquarters of the leading candidates.
The abstention rate for the first round in the election is likely to be around 20 percent. According to two surveys, the abstention rate will be roughly the same as in 2012, when 20.52 percent of voters chose not to cast a vote.
As of 5pm (local time), 69.42 percent of voters had cast their ballot, according to the Ministry of the Interior. These numbers are down slightly from 2012, which saw a 70.59 percent turnout by the same point.
US President Donald Trump has tweeted about the French election.
Watch RT’s special coverage about the first round of France’s presidential election.
The Head Chef of the Elysee Palace Guillaume Gomez, casted his vote with the quip, “when you have the power to choose your boss!”
Polling day has reached the halfway mark. Two of the eleven candidates will go forward to a runoff on May 7 to decide the final winner.
Francois Fillon had been favorite to win the election until details of ‘PenelopeGate’ emerged. A February poll found that 68 percent of participants wanted him to withdraw from the race following the scandal.
READ MORE: Nearly 70% want French presidential hopeful Fillon out of election race – poll
The candidate will have to wait until polls close at 9pm local time for any indication of his election performance.
A journalist in Paris reported that a Fillon newsletter was in the envelope given to him at the polling station. He said that he informed staff at the station who advised him to remove it. They claimed no similar incidents had been reported.
National Front politician Marion Le Pen tweeted that she voted in Carpentras in southern France. The niece of Marine Le Pen added that she rode her motorbike to get strawberries while waiting for the results.
At a polling station in South Kensington, London, a three hour queue was reported. In Dublin long queues were also reported at the French Embassy.
Jean-Luc Melenchon of La France Insoumise votes in Paris. Melenchon, along with Fillon, Le Pen and Macron are seen as the four front-runners in the election.
All 11 candidates have now cast their ballots.
Turnout for the election has seen a slight increase compared to the last election, standing at 28.54 percent at 10:00 GMT compared to 28.29 percent in 2012, according to data from the French Interior Ministry.
In 2007, the turnout at this time was 31.21 percent.
A polling station in Besançon in eastern France was evacuated after a stolen vehicle was abandoned with the engine running in its vicinity, reported Reuters.
Bomb disposal experts examined the vehicle, according to a ministry official. The polling station has since been reopened.
Jean Lassalle of Resistons! and Jacques Cheminade of Solidarity and Progress cast their votes in Pyrennées-Atlantique and Paris respectively.
Marine Le Pen cast her ballot at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont. A reporter at the scene said the candidate arrived and departed from the station within five minutes. Video shows her travelling in a vehicle with blacked out-windows and surrounded by bodyguards on foot.
The feminist activist group FEMEN staged a protest in Marine Le Pen’s constituency, Henin-Beaumont. Topless demonstrators from the group wore Donald Trump masks, as well as those depicting Nigel Farage and Le Pen’s father, National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Candidates Philippe Poutou of the New Anticapitalist Party voted in Bordeaux and Francois Asselineau of the Popular Republican Union in Paris.
Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! Voted at a polling station in Touquet in Pas-de-Calais. The frontrunner was accompanied by his wife Brigette.
On Thursday Macron released details of a phone call from former US president Barack Obama in which he wished Macron “all the best.”
Video from outside the polling station in Henin-Beaumont, in the Pas-de-Calais, where National Front candidate Marine Le Pen is expected to cast her vote. The video shows heightened security ahead of her arrival. Voters, who have been at the station since early morning, were met by armed security personnel.
President Hollande voted at a polling station in Tulle in central France.
Socialist Party candidate Benoit Hamon cast his vote in Trappes in north-central France.
Hamon defeated ex-prime minister Manuel Valls in a runoff for the party’s candidacy, following a controversy about voting numbers.
READ MORE: Fraud or bug? French socialist primary results baffle media
Francois Hollande’s party have seen a decline in popularity with Hamon not predicted to be a frontrunner in this election. The party came to power in 2012 with 51 percent of votes. Less than a week before the election they reportedly polled at 7.5 percent.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo tweeted an image of herself casting her vote.
Penelope Fillon, wife of frontrunner candidate Francois, cast her vote at a polling station in Solesmes in northwest France. Her husband is expected to vote later today in Paris.
‘Penelopegate’ became a major scandal during the election campaign when it emerged that Welsh-born Penelope had been paid around €500,000, for work she did not do, out of funds made available to her husband by the French government.
Polling stations have been open since 8am in France as the country takes to the polls to vote in the first round of the presidential election.
Candidate Nathalie Arthaud of Lutte Ouvrière was the second candidate to vote, attending a polling station in Pantin, a suburb in northeast Paris.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan was reportedly the first candidate to vote. The Debout la France candidate cast his ballot at a polling station in his hometown of Yerres dans l’Essonne outside Paris.
Outside of France, embassies in Munich and Tel Aviv saw throngs of expatriates queuing to vote.
Voting in overseas territories including French Polynesia and French Guiana took place on Saturday, along with a large turnout by French nationals in Montreal.
The hashtags #JeVote and #ElectionsPresidentielles2017 are trending in France as voters take to the polls.
A total of 70,000 polling stations are opening their doors to voters. Tough security measures have been put in place amid a high terror alert, with more than 50,000 police and gendarmes, as well as an additional 7,000 soldiers on watch.
On Saturday, polls opened for French citizens in the country’s overseas territories, as well as at consulates and embassies in foreign countries.
French citizens are to choose the two candidates that will face off in the second round of the presidential election on May 7. Out of the 11 candidates, four are seen as front-runners, including Francois Fillon of The Republicans, Emmanuel Macron of En Marche!, Jean-Luc Melenchon of La France Insoumise, and Marine Le Pen of the National Front.
The other seven candidates are Benoit Hamon of the Socialist Party, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan of Debout la France, Nathalie Arthaud of Lutte Ouvriere, Philippe Poutou of the New Anticapitalist Party, Jacques Cheminade of Solidarity and Progress, Jean Lassalle of Resistons!, and Francois Asselineau of the Popular Republican Union.