1st LD: French presidential runoff kicks off between Macron, Le Pen

Paris [France], April 24 (ANI/Xinhua): The 2022 French presidential runoff kicked off at 8 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) on Sunday in Metropolitan France between incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and candidate Marine Le Pen.

Most polling stations in Metropolitan France are set to close at 7 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) or one hour later in larger cities such as Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Bordeaux. Eligible voters in French overseas territories already cast their ballots on Saturday.

After a televised debate on April 20, almost all opinion polls predicted that Macron would lead this presidential runoff. But, local media are worried that a low turnout rate, especially during this spring holiday period, could reverse the predictions, as the abstention rate of the first round of voting reached 26.31 per cent.

Most of the unsuccessful candidates of the first round have clearly voiced their support for Macron, while far-left wing party Unsubmissive France leader Jean-Luc Melanchon, reaching the third place, instead of calling on his supporters to vote for Macron, asked his supporters not to"give a vote" to Le Pen.
At 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT), highly accurate first estimations and exit polls will be allowed for the public. According to the results of the first round of voting published by France's Constitutional Council, Macron won 9,783,058 votes or 27.85 per cent of valid ballots, and Le Pen won 8,133,828 votes or 23.15 per cent.

During the first round of voting held on April 10, 35,923,707 voters had cast their ballots. In 2017, Macron and Le Pen also competed for the French presidency in a runoff vote, during which Macron was elected president with 66.10 per cent of the votes. (ANI/Xinhua)