French Presidential Candidate Melenchon Rating Grows by 2% for 1st Time

The public support of Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of left-wing political movement La France Insoumise (Unsubmissive France), grew by 2 percent for the first time since late March and now stands at 18 percent in the first round of the French presidential election, a fresh OpinionWay poll showed Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to the survey, far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen preserves the one-point lead over independent candidate Emmanuel Macron, with 24 percent of the projected votes. The voting intention figures for both candidates declined by one percent since Friday.

The Republicans' party nominee Francois Fillon lost 1 percent over the weekend and is projected to receive 19 percent of votes.

Socialist party candidate Benoit Hamon also lost 1 percent and now stands at 10 percent of potential votes.

The voting figures for the second round has not changed with Macron projected to beat Le Pen 62 to 38 percent.

The first round of presidential election in France is set for April 23, while the run-off vote is slated for May 7.

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