Macron and Le Pen qualify: French election results and comments

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen have qualified for the second round of the presidential election on April 24, in a repeat of the 2017 elections.

The table below is based on the most up-to-date count - roughly 97% votes counted. (If you do not initially see the table, refresh your browser).

• Emmanuel Macron leads in voting intentions for the second round with 54%, according to an Ipsos-Sopra Steria poll for France Télévisions and Radio France.
• The turnout for the first round was around 73% (meaning an abstention rate of about 27%). This is higher than in 2017 (22%).
• Emmanuel Macron is by far the favourite candidate among high-earners / managers / CEO / executives (35%) and pensioners (38%), who place him well ahead of Marine Le Pen (12% and 17% respectively in these two categories), according to an Ipsos survey.
• Marine Le Pen is more popular among employees and blue-collar workers (36%, against 17 and 18% for Emmanuel Macron).
• Young people voted the least: A survey estimates overall abstention at 26%, but it rises to 42% among 18-24 year olds and 46% among 25-34 year olds. Conversely, only 12% of 60-69 year olds did not cast a vote.

Read our coverage of the election night

• Macron - Le Pen in second round: How did your area of France vote?
• What happens now in the French election, will there be a TV debate?
• Who gets the vote of the ten non-qualifier French election candidates?
• ‘Election has become a question of everyday people versus elites’
• Expressions you may hear in the lead up to final French election vote
• Macron - Le Pen: What do they each pledge to change if elected?
• ‘Problems for organic veg’ and other coded French election messages

How the candidates reacted

Emmanuel Macron: "Since the beginning and since always, we defend our convictions with strength, and with respect for each and everyone. Thank you for that.

"I would like to thank Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Valérie Pécresse and Fabien Roussel who have already given me their support this evening. I invite our fellow citizens, whatever their vote in the first round, and whatever their political leanings, to join us. Some will do so to block the extreme right, and I am fully aware that this will not be equivalent to support for my project, and I respect that. I know that this is the choice made by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. I want to salute their clarity."

Marine Le Pen: "The French people have spoken and I am honoured to have qualified for the second round. Allow me to express my deepest gratitude to the millions of voters who have shown their confidence in me. My ambition is to rally the French around this national and popular project".

Jean-Luc Mélenchon: "Yes, it is a disappointment, but at the same time, how can we hide from the pride of what we have accomplished? We have built this force! Do not give a single vote to Madame Le Pen! Do not give a single vote to Madame Le Pen! Do not give a single vote to Madame Le Pen!"

Yannick Jadot: "I call on my voters to stop the extreme right by putting a Macron ballot in the ballot box on 24 April."

Valérie Pécresse: "Marine Le Pen's project will lead to discord and bankruptcy. Her historical proximity to Vladimir Putin discredits her. So, despite the differences I mentioned during the campaign, I will vote in conscience for Emmanuel Macron, to prevent Marine Le Pen from coming to power and the chaos that would result from it."

Fabien Roussel: "The extreme right has never been so strong in our Republic. This is a grave moment."

Éric Zemmour: "More than two million of you have voted for me today. Above all, I want to address you. Thank you very much for your trust, for the hope and strength you have given me this evening. Thanks to you, I can make a promise: I will continue to defend France and our ideas. And I am sure that soon we will win."

Nathalie Arthaud: “If Marine Le Pen comes to power, she would exercise in the interests of the richest, but in an even more reactionary and authoritarian way. Opposite her is Macron, his open contempt for workers and the poor, his disdain for anything that does not come from above."

Previous updates

• Turnout at 17:00 was 65%, 4.4 points lower than in 2017 (69.4%), but higher than in 2002 (58.5%)

• The abstention rate is estimated to be around 26.2%, according to polls

  ❗️ La participation à 17h atteint 65 %, soit 4,4 points de moins qu'en 2017 (69,4 %), mais davantage qu'en 2002 (58,5 %).#Presidentielle2022 pic.twitter.com/Ot6cyCb59N

  — Nicolas Berrod (@nicolasberrod) April 10, 2022

• The departments with the highest voter turnout at 17:00:
  Dordogne: 75.26%, Aveyron: 73.93%, Gers: 73.71%, Haute-Loire: 73.53%, Pyrénées-Atlantiques: 72.78%
• The departments with the lowest voter turnout at 17:00:
  Haute-Corse: 51.23%, Seine-Saint-Denis: 51.71%, Paris: 52.17%, Essonne: 56.19%, Corse-du-Sud: 58.48%
• All 12 presidential candidates voted earlier today in various places around the country
• Incumbent President Emmanuel Macron expected to give speech to members of party La République En Marche at 21:00
• Marine Le Pen (Rassemblement National) is expected to speak at 20:30

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