Macron leads 1st round of French election, to face Le Pen in run-off

PARIS, April 10 (MENA) - 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 28.4% of the vote to Le Pen's 23.4%.

Macron was projected to win 28.4% of the vote, ahead of Le Pen (23.4%) and third-placed Jean-Luc Mélenchon (21.1%), France24 reported.

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.