French Election Results: Macron vs Le Pen

On Sunday, April 23^rd, eleven candidates faced off in the French presidential election’s first round of voting. As recent polls predicted, centrist Macron and right-wing nationalist Le Pen finished at the top, with 23.86% and 21.43% of the vote, respectively. The two will move on to the second round of voting on May 7^th where the candidate with the majority of votes will become the next president of the French Republic.

Among the defeated candidates are conservative Francois Fillon, who finished third with 19.94% of the votes as his polling had suggested he would. Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon came in a close fourth—also as indicated by earlier polling—with 19.62% of the vote. Benoit Hamon, representing the Socialist Party, underperformed his polls by receiving only 6.35% of the vote.

The six other candidates vying for the presidency all finished with below 5% of the vote. The Washington Post summarizes the tone of the upcoming run-off race and rise of Le Pen in the video below.

Featured image: Stock Photos from Guillaume Destombes/Shutterstock