Macron takes over in first round of France's Presidential election

Paris, Apr 11: France's incumbent President Emmanuel Macron maintains his lead in the first round of France's Presidential election after 95 per cent of the ballot were processed, according to the interim results published by the Interior Ministry.

 

 

 

 

Macron currently has 27.41 pc of the votes, while far right Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is second with 24.03 per cent. Jean - Luc Melenchon is third with 21.57 per cent, and Eric Zemmour is fourth with 6.97 per cent. The second round of the Presidential election will be held on Apr 24.

 

 

 

 

Earlier, President Macron thanked the leftist and conservative camps for backing his reelection bid after the first round of voting showed him tied with right winger Marine Le Pen. He said in his post - vote speech, "I thank (Socialist) Anne Hidalgo, (Conservative) Valerie Pecresse and (Communist) Fabien Roussel for lending me their support tonight."

 

With 50 per cent of the ballots counted, the first official announcement had put Macron on second place with 26.67 per cent votes and Le Pen was leading the race with 27.53 per cent votes. Le Pen is being backed by right - wing Eric Zemmour and Nicolas - Dupont Aignan.