Macron Expected to Win 1st Round of French Presidential Election With 26.5%

French independent presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron would win 26.5 percent in the first round of presidential election in France against Marine Le Pen's 26 percent, while The Republicans presidential candidate Francois Fillon would gain 19 percent of the votes, according to the poll.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — French independent presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron is predicted to become a leader in the first round of the election as he is now 0.5 percent ahead of far-right National Front (FN) party leader Marine Le Pen, an Odoxa poll showed on Sunday.

According to the poll, "En Marche!" movement's leader would win 26.5 percent in the first round against Le Pen's 26 percent, while The Republicans presidential candidate Francois Fillon would gain 19 percent of the votes.

Macron would beat Le Pen in the second round with 64 percent against 36 percent of the vote, the poll's results showed. The National Front leader is also expected to get 43 percent against Fillon's 57 percent of the vote if they meet in the run-off, the polling organization specified.

An OpinionWay poll, published on March 13, meanwhile, showed that Le Pen would beat her closest rival Macron with 27 percent against 25 percent of the votes.

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