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Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen to fight for presidency
The BBC reported, Emmanuel Macron has won the first round of the French election and far-right rival Marine Le Pen will fight him for the presidency for a second time.
He told cheering supporters: "Make no mistake, nothing is decided."
In the end, he won a convincing first-round victory, but opinion polls suggest the run-off could be much closer.
Ms Le Pen called on every non-Macron voter to join her and "put France back in order".
With 97% of results counted, Emmanuel Macron had 27.6% of the vote, Marine Le Pen 23.41% and Jean-Luc Mélenchon 21.95%.
Twelve candidates were in the running, but these were the only three who polled more than 10%. Many voters appeared to embrace the idea of tactical or "useful" voting, deciding that the other nine candidates had no hope of making the run-off.
Mr Macron's team is planning a series of big rallies and major TV appearances. Most of the other candidates on the left have backed him, as has Valérie Pécresse, but one-time Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal said the president now had to "earn" victory.
Addressing his supporters, Mr Macron looked a relieved man and he promised to work harder than in the first part of the campaign. He had only started campaigning eight days before the vote, his mind more focused on Russia's war in Ukraine.
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"When the extreme right in all its forms represents so much of our country," he said, "we cannot feel that things are going well."
He addressed Le Pen voters too: "I want to convince them in the next few days that our project answers solidly to their fears and challenges of our time."
Ms Le Pen said it was time for a "great changeover", with a fundamental choice on 24 April of two opposite views: "Either division and disorder, or a union of the French people around guaranteed social justice."
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She has built her campaign around the cost-of-living crunch facing much of Europe, promising to cut taxes and waive income tax for under-30s. There has been less emphasis on nationalism, but she wants a referendum on restricting immigration, radical change to the EU and a ban on the Islamic hijab in public areas.
Source: BBC
