Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron have pulled further in front in
opinion polls for next month’s French presidential election ahead of the
first televised debate Monday. Macron, a centrist independent, and Le
Pen, the far-right leader of the National Front, have extended their
advantage over Republican François Fillon, whose campaign has been
dogged by an investigation into alleged fraud.
Macron and Le Pen were tied with 26 percent of the vote, with Fillon falling back to 17 percent, in a poll conducted by Kantar Sofres released Sunday. There was a setback, too, for the candidate for the governing Socialist party, Benoît Hamon, who fell back to 12 percent, level with left-wing former Socialist party member Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Current President François Hollande announced in December that he will not seek a second term.
French voters will go to the polls for the first round of the election on April 23, with the top two candidates then going onto a second round run-off on May 7.
It would take a major swing in the final month of the campaign for the run-off not to be between Macron and Le Pen. And it would take a similar momentum switch for Macron not to ultimately emerge victorious. Polls have consistently shown Macron beating Le Pen in the second round with around two-thirds of the vote.
Read More: France: French Election Polls Ahead of First Debate Show Le Pen, Macron Extending Lead- by Jason Le Miere
Macron and Le Pen were tied with 26 percent of the vote, with Fillon falling back to 17 percent, in a poll conducted by Kantar Sofres released Sunday. There was a setback, too, for the candidate for the governing Socialist party, Benoît Hamon, who fell back to 12 percent, level with left-wing former Socialist party member Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Current President François Hollande announced in December that he will not seek a second term.
French voters will go to the polls for the first round of the election on April 23, with the top two candidates then going onto a second round run-off on May 7.
It would take a major swing in the final month of the campaign for the run-off not to be between Macron and Le Pen. And it would take a similar momentum switch for Macron not to ultimately emerge victorious. Polls have consistently shown Macron beating Le Pen in the second round with around two-thirds of the vote.
Read More: France: French Election Polls Ahead of First Debate Show Le Pen, Macron Extending Lead- by Jason Le Miere
