By Hajer M'tiri
PARIS
Centrist independent Emmanuel Macron will face far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the May 7 run-off for the French presidency, according to official results published on Monday.
Macron passed the far-right leader with 23.75 percent of the vote to Le Pen’s 21.53 percent after almost all of the ballots were counted, according to the Interior Ministry.
However, with nearly eight million votes, Le Pen has set a new record for her National Front party.
Conservative Francois Fillon and left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon trailed behind with 19.94 percent and 19.62 percent respectively. Both have conceded but only Fillon called for voters to rally around Macron to prevent a National Front candidate from becoming president.
Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon is out having won around 6.35 percent, a fresh blow to the embattled ruling party of current president, Francois Hollande. Hamon also called on voters to block the rise of the far-right candidate by backing Macron in the run-off.
The two leading candidates will start campaigning for the final stage in the presidential race.
The election has been one of the most unpredictable presidential contests in years. The first-round results reflect an astonishing political shift, with the two candidates representing a deeply polarized political landscape.
For Le Pen, the answer to security, terrorism and economy issues is to block legal and illegal immigration, cease admitting refugees, say goodbye to the EU and reintroduce the franc.
The 48-year-old lawyer vowed to hold a national referendum on leaving the EU and the Schengen border-free area within six months of taking office. Le Pen says she is against "Islamist globalization" and wants France to be a "true country" and not "a mere region of the European Union”.
On the move
Ex-investment banker Macron, who founded his own political movement En Marche! (On the move) in April last year, portrays himself as something akin to the anti-Le Pen.
He says the far-right leader wants to take France back to the 1950s while he wants to pull it into the 21st century.
The 39-year-old former economy minister, who has never run for elected office before, is ardently pro-Europe and has embraced a tolerant attitude toward immigrants, refugees and Muslims.
"We are not looking to adapt or reform, but to transform," Macron has vowed.
The polarization of the campaign was reflected on the streets on election night. Police made at least 29 arrests, according to broadcaster BFMTV, after clashes erupted on the Place de la Bastille in eastern Paris on Sunday.
Crowds of young people, mixed with members of anarchist and anti-fascist groups, had gathered to protest Le Pen’s second-place finish and her hardline, anti-immigrant policies.
On Wednesday, the Interior Ministry is due to officially announce results from the first round.
Surveys projecting a second-round clash between Macron and Le Pen have consistently shown the centrist candidate winning by a comfortable margin.
The new president will be formally confirmed by mid-May.
The presidential poll is to be followed by a two-round legislative election to select the parliament in June.
