France faces bruising runoff after Macron and Le Pen top first-round vote

The hard-left Mélenchon came in third, with a higher-than-forecast 22.2% of the vote, cementing his leading position on the left after campaigning on the cost of living and transforming the presidential system.

The majority of his leftwing supporters five years ago opted to vote for Macron in the second round simply to keep out Le Pen. But polls this time have suggested that a number of them may be tempted to vote Le Pen in protest against Macron.

For the first time, Le Pen is able to benefit from a reservoir of transferable votes in the second round. About 80% of the votes for Zemmour are now expected to transfer to Le Pen.

Macron is now seeking to be the first French president to win a second term in 20 years despite a mood of pessimism and disillusionment with politics in France. He entered the race late and said repeatedly he did not have the ability to campaign fully because he was occupied on diplomacy over the war in Ukraine and phonecalls to Putin and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

He has defended his in office record saying unemployment was at its lowest in 15 years, and promising he could bring full employment. He argued he was the European leader who had done the most to lessen the impact of inflation on households, but on campaign walkabouts he was greeted with angry shouts from people complaining they could not make ends meet.