Poll: Le Pen, Macron in Tight Race for Victory in First Round of French Election

Fresh polls showed on Friday that Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron are in tight race to lead in the first round of French presidential election, but the independent candidate is set to dominate the National Front party leader in the run-off vote.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The gap between Le Pen and Macron in the first round has narrowed to only 0.5 percent, a recent Ifop poll showed.

According to the survey, the voting intention figures for Macron increased by 0.5 percent, reaching 26 percent, while the far-right candidate is projected to receive 26.5 percent of votes. The level of support of The Republicans' presidential nominee Francois Fillon in the first round remained unchanged since Thursday, amounting to 18 percent.

However, Macron is expected to defeat Le Pen in the second round of the election 61 percent to 39 percent, another Ifop poll showed.

In case Le Pen faces The Republicans' candidate Francois Fillon in the run-off, she is projected to lose with 44 percent of votes against his 56 percent.

The survey also indicated that the voting intention figures both for Macron and Fillon against Le Pen in the run-off remained unchanged since Thursday.

The first round of the French presidential elections is scheduled for April 23, while the run-off is expected to take place on May 7.