Paris: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen lead in the early counting of ballots for the first round of France’s presidential election, suggesting they are on track to face each other in the two-person run-off.
Macron, a 39-year-old independent, has 23.8% of the vote, while the National Front’s Le Pen, 48, has 21.6%, according to initial estimates by pollster Ifop. Republican Francois Fillon has 20.3% and Communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon has 19.6%.
The figures are based on the initial count of actual votes. Two other pollsters gave similar estimates. Bloomberg
