France's incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen will qualify for an April 24 presidential election runoff, initial projections by four pollsters showed after voting closed on Sunday.
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Macron led Le Pen in the first round, the separate estimates by Ifop, OpinionWay,Elabe and Ipsos showed. Macron won 28.1-29.5% of votes while Le Pen won 23.3-24.4% of voter support, they projected.
That outcome would set up a duel between an economic liberal with a globalist outlook in Macron and a deeply eurosceptic economic nationalist who, until the Ukraine war, was an open admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Not for two decades has a French president won a second term. Barely a month ago, Macron appeared near-certain to reverse that trend, riding high in polls thanks to strong economic growth, fragmented opposition and his statesman role in trying to avert war on Europe's eastern flank.
But he has paid the price for late entry into the campaign during which he eschewed market walkabouts in provincial France in favor of a single big rally outside Paris. A plan to make people work longer has also proved unpopular.
By contrast, Le Pen has for months toured towns and villages across France, focusing on cost-of-living issues that trouble millions and tapping into deep-seated anger towards the distant political elite.
A more than 10 point lead Macron had enjoyed as late as mid-March evaporated and voter surveys ahead of the first round showed his margin of victory in an eventual runoff whittled down to within the margin of error.
"I'm scared of the political extremes," said pensioner Therese Eychenne, 89, after voting for Macron in Paris. "I don't know what would become of France."
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