French President Emmanuel Macron will face the far right’s Marine Le Pen in a presidential run-off on April 24 after leading the first round on Sunday with 28.5% of the vote to Le Pen’s 23.6%, according to an Ipsos exit poll.

Macron was projected to win 28.5% of the vote, ahead of Le Pen (23.6%) and third-placed Jean-Luc Mélenchon (20.3%), according to projections by our partners Ipsos Sopra Steria.

Some 48.7 million voters were called to the polls for Sunday’s first round. By 5pm, 65 percent of registered voters had cast a ballot, down 4.4 points on the previous election in 2017.

Twelve candidates, from the far left to the far right, were on the ballot for the first round. The two finalists will vie for France’s top job in two weeks’ time, on April 24.

Source: France 24