The founder of the political movement “En Marche!”, Emmanuel Macron, and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are the leaders of the first round of France’s presidential elections, BFM TV said on Sunday immediately after the end of polling.
Le Pen leads with 24.78%, Macron – 21.75%.
They are closely followed by Jean-Luc Melenchon (La France insoumise) and Francois Fillon (The Republicans), both having 19.5% of votes.
In all, eleven candidates vied for French presidency in the first round of voting on Sunday.
The four leaders are followed by Benoit Hammon, representing the Socialist Party, who is scoring 6.5% of the vote. Next is Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (Debout la France) with five percent of votes. The other five candidates are barely winning 3.8% of votes.
The runoff voting is scheduled for May 7.