Potential Gap Between Macron, Le Pen in 1st Election Round Narrows to 1%

Far-right National Front (FN) party leader Marine Le Pen's chances to win the first election round have decreased by 1 percentage point since Tuesday to 25 percent, while independent candidate Emmanuel Macron's victory prospects have not changed since Monday and he is likely to get 24 percent of votes, according to the poll.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The potential gap separating the top candidates for entering the second round of French presidential elections, independent candidate Emmanuel Macron and far-right National Front (FN) party leader Marine Le Pen, has closed to 1 percentage point, a fresh poll showed Wednesday.

Le Pen’s chances to win the first election round have decreased by 1 percentage point since Tuesday to 25 percent, while Macron’s victory prospects have not changed since Monday and he is likely to get 24 percent of votes, the OpinionWay poll demonstrated.

The chances of The Republicans presidential nominee Francois Fillon, who is projected to gain 21 percent of votes in the first election round, remain unchanged since February 21, the poll indicated.

Despite the fact that Le Pen is still likely to win the first round of elections, slated for April 23, she is expected to be defeated in May run-off elections to either Fillon or Macron, who are projected to win respectively 60 and 63 percent of votes if they stand against Le Pen.