According to anticipated polling data from French polling firms, Emmanuel Macron has fended off a challenge from far-right leader Marine Le Pen to regain the French presidency.
In Sunday’s second-round runoff, Macron, the centrist incumbent, is expected to receive 57 percent to 58.5 percent of the vote, compared to 41.5 percent to 43 percent for Le Pen, his nationalist opponent.
If the estimates are correct, Macron will win easily, though by a narrower margin than in 2017, when he became France’s youngest president after winning by more than 30 percentage points.
Despite falling short of the Élysée Palace for the third time in her presidential campaign, Le Pen appears to have garnered the most votes ever for a French far-right contender.
Macron congratulated his supporters and vowed a more “independent France” and “stronger Europe” in a victory speech on the Champ de Mars in Paris.
Following the election, leaders in Europe and the United States were concerned about Le Pen’s challenge to the country’s mainstream order and the West’s solidarity against Russia. She sympathizes with Russian President Vladimir Putin and holds NATO and the European Union in low regard.
Shortly after the predictions were announced, Le Pen acknowledged loss in a speech to supporters, but stated her unprecedented vote total constituted “a brilliant victory in itself.”
She stated, “The ideas we represent are reaching new heights.”
After polls closed at 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET) across France, polling firms Opinionway, Harris, and IFOP collaborated with media outlets to publish projected results based on early voting patterns. In the past, the approach has properly forecast French elections.
The final outcome will be announced by the interior ministry on Monday. According to the ministry’s figures, Macron received 58.5 percent of the vote against Le Pen’s 41.4 percent.
