The polls have closed in France and projections show President Macron on 28.5 per cent with the rightist Marine Le Pen on 24.6 per cent. The ultra-leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon is in third place on 20.3 per cent and is thus eliminated from round two on 24 April.
The result looks dangerous for Macron. The nationalist right has never been so close to power. The President will now attempt to assemble a ‘Republican Front’ against Le Pen. He’s got what he always wanted: Le Pen as his opponent in the second round. But the result shows that his support is narrow.
Much may now depend on next Sunday’s televised debate between Macron and Le Pen
The rest of the field is distant. A cold shower for Valérie Pécresse on 4.8 per cent, candidate of the Républicans; humiliation for Anne Hidalgo, a miserable 1.9 per cent for the Paris mayor who represented the once-mighty Socialist party; insurgent Éric Zemmour in fourth place but on a terrible 7 per cent.
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