Exit polling in France shows French President Emmanuel Macron leading in the first round of voting in the presidential election, with right-wing challenger Marine Le Pen likely to face-off against Macron in a rematch of the 2017 election.
According to polling by France 2, Macron, of the centrist En Marche! party is projected to win the first round of voting with 28.4%, followed in second by the rightist National Front party’s Le Pen with 23.4%, and Jean-Luc Melenchon of the populist-socialist La France Insoumise party in third with 21.1%.
The two top candidates in the first round of voting will advance to the second and final round of voting.
No other candidates reached double digits, according to the exit poll, with the right-wing Reconquete party’s Eric Zemmour projected to receive 7.0% of the vote, followed by The Republicans – a center-right party led by Valérie Pécresse – with 4.7%, and Yannick Jadot of the Greens with 4.5%.
Macron outperformed his showing in the first round of voting in 2017, when he received 24.0% of the vote, compared to 21.3% for Marine Le Pen. In 2017, Macron went on to defeat Le Pen by a nearly two-to-one margin in the run-off election, with 66% of the vote, to Le Pen's 34%.
Should Macron go on to win the second round of voting, he will be the first French president in two decades to win reelection.
The run-off vote is slated for Sunday, April 24th.