Macron and Le Pen to face-off in French second round vote

Centrist Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen won the first round of voting in the country’s presidential elections today, according to various reports.

The first exit poll from French daily Le Monde indicates that Macron made off with 23% of the ballots, followed by Le Pen at 21%.

They will face off in a second round of voting on 7 May.

Nevertheless, with the polls having closed at 1900 GMT the vote count has just begun.

Yet an early estimate from the Interior Ministry published at 20:13 GMT puts Le Pen in the lead at 24.9%, followed by Macron at 21.1% and ex –PM Francois Fillon at 20%.

According to the daily poll conducted by Opinionway on 21 April, if his challenger is indeed Le Pen then Macron is expected to win the second round vote by a wide margin of 64% to 36%.