France published preliminary voting results in the presidential election

In France, voting in the first round of the presidential elections came to an end. The new official data published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the country indicate that the founder of the “forward” movement Emmanuel Macron leads in the first round of elections, gaining 23.72% of the vote after calculating 90% of the ballots. In second place is the chairman of the National Front party Marine Le Pen (21.90%). These two candidates go to the second round.

Their closest competitors - ex -Prime Minister Francois Fiion and the leader of "Fragoned France" by Jean -Luke Melanchon - 19.92% and 19.24% of the vote, respectively

Note that in the course of the vote count, two leading candidates were several times ahead of each other, but Macron escaped forward when the ballots began to be counted in the largest French cities.

After the announcement of preliminary results, Le Pen said that in the second round to France citizens there would be a simple choice: either they will vote for “the state without protection, without borders and mass immigration”, or for “France with borders that protect jobs, purchasing power, safety and sovereignty”.

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RIA Novosti , citing its own correspondent, reports that the preliminary voting results at Le Pen headquarters were met by the performance of the anthem of the French Republic - Marseelusa. Macron commented on the first results of the elections, noting that France today "turned the page of political life."

Meanwhile, the losing candidate from the ruling Socialist Party Benois Amon already urged his supporters to vote in the second round for Macron. “I urge you to deal with the“ National Front ”and extremely right as possible,” he said at a rally with his supporters, recognizing his own defeat (quote for TASS).

A similar call was voiced by the former Prime Minister of the country Jean-Pierre Raffaren. According to him, the French need to "take into account the situation they encountered" and "unite for Macron." In addition, Macron also decided to agitate the candidate from the Republican party Francois Fiion and the Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Mark Ero. Thus, to withstand Le Pen in the second round there will be a whole coalition that supports its opponent.

Exit polons previously published abroad also showed a small advantage of Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. However, their main competitors - Francois Fillon and Jean -Luke Melanshon - until the last retained the chances of access to the second round. The separation of the "first" macron from the "fourth" melanchon was only 4%.

More than 66 thousand plots worked on the mainland of the country. Most closed at 20:00 in Moscow, the work of plots in the largest cities of the country - Paris, Lyon, Marseille was extended for an hour. The turnout, contrary to fears, approached the indicators of 2012. As Reuters notes, the election results will determine the place of France in the European Union, in many ways - the future of education itself. And Russia can get bones in sanctions: three of the four favorites are not against this.

On Saturday, due to the difference in time, residents of the overseas departments of France began to vote in the current presidential election. The results were published by the Belgian RTBF television channel, and the melanchonwas a leader . Emmanuel Macron (45%) became the leader in voting in North America.

According to French observers, the high activity of French voters in the United States is caused to a large extent because they are impressed by the recent elections of the US president and "a number of them do not want someone like Donald Trump to come to power."

The current elections are held in France for the first time in the conditions of a state of emergency in the country, introduced after the Parisian attacks of 2015. In this regard, the authorities, seriously afraid of possible excesses on the day of elections, took extraordinary security measures. In total, 50 thousand police and gendarmes, as well as 7 thousand military, numerous employees of private security enterprises are involved for this. In general, the election day passed without noticeable incidents.

Turnout at the 2012 election level

Contrary to the fears of experts, suggesting that the French, out of a sense of disappointment in politics, could en masse the current elections, the activity of voters eventually found themselves at the level of the previous presidential campaign. According to the intermediate data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic, as of 17:00 (18:00 in Moscow), 69.42% of the French vote had voted. This is only 1% lower than in 2012.

According to the IPSOS research center, about 22% of voting will not reach polling stations. In 2012, the failure to appear amounted to 20%.