will face the far-right Marine Le Pen in the final round of the French presidential election, after topping Sunday’s first round with 28% to her 23%, according to initial projected results.
The hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon came in third place with a higher than forecast 20% of the vote, cementing his leading position on the left after campaigning on the cost of living and transforming the presidential system. The decline of the traditional parties of government was confirmed by the Socialist party’s candidate and mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, scoring only 2%. The Greens’ Yannick Jadot scored 4.4% despite the environment being among French voters’ top concerns.
A battle began on Sunday night for both Macron and Le Pen to hoover up support from the smaller candidates. The choice of Mélenchon’s voters will be key. The majority of his leftwing supporters five years ago opted to vote for Macron in the second round simply to keep out Le Pen. But polls this time have suggested, some of them might be tempted to vote Le Pen in protest against Macron.
Turn-out was lower than five years ago but higher than the record in 2002 – with abstention forecast at about 26%.
Should French people vote to war criminal’s telephone friend or Hitler’s female fan?🤦♀️