Le Pen's Public Support in First Round of French Election Down by 0.5% - Poll

The victory prospects of France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen in the first round of the French presidential election have decreased by 0.5 percent, while The Republicans' candidate Francois Fillon’s chances have grown by the same amount over the past 24 hours, a fresh poll showed Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Le Pen is likely to win 25 percent of votes in the first round of the elections, which is 0.5 percent less compared to the previous survey’s results, the Paris Match magazine said, citing the results of the poll conducted jointly by the Ifop/Fiducial polling and market research firms for local media.

Fillon’s chances for victory in the first round of the elections are 0.5 percent higher than on Monday and he is expected gain 18.5 percentage points in the first round of the elections, closing the gap with independent candidate Emmanuel Macron, whose popularity has not changed, to 1 percent, the magazine also indicated.

Macron is still expected to secure 19.5 percent of votes in the first round.

Fillon used to be the leader of the race after The Republicans' primaries, but his image was marred by a fraud job scandal that erupted in late January around his wife’s allegedly fake employment.

The first round of the French presidential elections is scheduled for April 23. The run-off is slated for May 7.