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| Version 7 | Version 8 |
|---|---|
| French election: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen through to second round, estimates show – live | French election: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen through to second round, estimates show – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 9.05pm BST | |
| 21:05 | |
| The euro has hit a five month high, as the early polling figures from France reassure the financial markets, writes Graeme Wearden: | |
| The single currency jumped almost 2% when trading began in Asia, surging over $1.091. It also rallied 1.5% against the British pound to around 85p. Investors had been nervous that Emmanuel Macron might fail to reach the run-off, as he’s seen as the candidate best equipped to prevent Marine Le Pen winning the presidency. | |
| Euro leaps to five-month high of $1.09 in early trading. French election liveblog with @jonhenley --> https://t.co/yAVeRWkg23 pic.twitter.com/nJpfWRlz2X | |
| Dean Turner of UBS said investors will be relieved that a mainstream candidate made it through to the second round. “As things stand, Macron is on course to be the next French president, so it is likely that we see a recovery in risk appetite toward French and other European markets,” predicted Turner. | |
| He added that markets would “still be alert” to the possibility of a Le Pen victory in the second round. Jeremy Cook of currency exchange firm World First said the euro was dancing high. | |
| “This positivity is mainly as a result that if there was one match up that the anti-EU Le Pen did not want in the 2nd round it is Macron. There has not been a poll that puts her within 15% of Macron in the 2nd round,” Cook explained. | |
| 9.02pm BST | |
| 21:02 | |
| Down in Nice, Oscar Lopez has been speaking to disappointed Fillon and Mélenchon voters who will now switch to Macron, and to a Le Pen supporter: | |
| “I knew it,” said Solange, 70, with a slight sigh, after being told the election results. “I voted for Fillon, and I’m disappointed. But it’s not catastrophic.” She didn’t have a lot of confidence in Macron, though she would vote for him. “He’s too young,” she said. “And he’s still a socialist, no matter what he says.” | |
| She could “never vote for Le Pen,” Solange said. “We don’t need anymore hate in this country. And she would be a catastrophe for the economy. We don’t have a choice but to vote for Macron.” | |
| Sitting outside a fast food restaurant, Montassar Rejob, 27, was similarly set against the Front National. “Le Pen wants to divide the country,” he said. “It’s going to end in civil war.” He had voted Mélenchon, “because he was the only one who had dreams,” but, like Solange, admitted that against Le Pen the choice was simple: “It will be Macron.” | |
| For Laurent, 22, the choice was not so easy - he had voted for Le Pen in the first round. “Look at what happened in Nice, what’s happening in France,” he said, explaining that one of his friends had lost his mother and grandmother in the 2016 Nice attack. | |
| “It’s shocking. Something has to happen, and Le Pen is the only one that will take action.” Still, now that she had made it through to the second round, Laurent was having doubts. | |
| “I’m not sure if maybe she’s a bit too extreme,” he said, admitting that he was against her plans to leave the European Union. “It’s complicated. I’ll have to reread their programs and think about it. Either way, it’s going to be a huge change for France.” | |
| 8.44pm BST | |
| 20:44 | |
| Angelique Chrisafis in Paris writes with a salutary reminder that France has parliamentary elections coming soon that will determine the extent to which the new president can actually govern: | |
| Whoever wins the Macron-Le Pen race, the parliamentary elections that follow in June will be crucial. The majority in the lower house will determine how a new president could govern, and France is likely to require a new form of coalition politics. If elected, Macron – who is fielding MP candidates from his fledgling movement, En Marche! (On the Move) – would have to seek a new kind of parliamentary majority across the centre left-right divide. If Le Pen did win the presidency, she would very probably not win a parliament majority, thwarting her ability to govern. But her party hopes to increase its MPs in the 577-seat house. Currently Le Pen has only two MPs. | |
| 8.41pm BST | |
| 20:41 | |
| Le Pen calls for "real change" | |
| Speaking in her constituency of Hénin-Beaumont, Marine Le Pen had this to say on her advance to the second round run-off on 7 May against Emmanuel Macron: | |
| You have brought me to the second round of the presidential election. I’d like to express my most profound gratitude. The first step that should lead the French people to the l’Elysée has been taken. This is a historic result. | |
| It is also an act of French pride, the act of a people lifting their heads. It will have escaped no one that the system tried by every means possible to stifle the great political debate that must now take place. The French people now have a very simple choice: either we continue on the path to complete deregulation, or you choose France. | |
| You now have the chance to choose real change. This is what I propose: real change/ It is time to liberate the French nation from arrogant elites who want to dictate how it must behave. Because yes, I am the candidate of the people. | |
| Updated | |
| at 8.41pm BST | |
| 8.25pm BST | 8.25pm BST |
| 20:25 | 20:25 |
| Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the hard-left veteran currently credited with fourth place just behind François Fillon, has said on his Facebook page that he does not yet accept the projected results, saying they are “based on opinion polls” and urging voters to show restraint and commentators to show prudence. | Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the hard-left veteran currently credited with fourth place just behind François Fillon, has said on his Facebook page that he does not yet accept the projected results, saying they are “based on opinion polls” and urging voters to show restraint and commentators to show prudence. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 8.26pm BST | at 8.26pm BST |
| 8.14pm BST | 8.14pm BST |
| 20:14 | 20:14 |
| Police have fired tear gas on the Place de la Bastille in eastern Paris as crowds of young people, some from anarchist and anti-fascist groups, gathered to protest at Marine Le Pen’s second-place finish and her hardline, anti-immigrant policies. | Police have fired tear gas on the Place de la Bastille in eastern Paris as crowds of young people, some from anarchist and anti-fascist groups, gathered to protest at Marine Le Pen’s second-place finish and her hardline, anti-immigrant policies. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 8.33pm BST | |
| 8.01pm BST | 8.01pm BST |
| 20:01 | 20:01 |
| Fillon concedes defeat, backs Macron | Fillon concedes defeat, backs Macron |
| Conservative candidate François Fillon has conceded defeat and called on his supporters to back Emmanuel Macron in the second round: | Conservative candidate François Fillon has conceded defeat and called on his supporters to back Emmanuel Macron in the second round: |
| Despite all my efforts, my determination, I have not succeeded in convincing my fellow countrymen and women. The obstacles in my path were too numerous and too cruel. This defeat is mine, I accept the responsibility, it is mine and mine alone to bear. | Despite all my efforts, my determination, I have not succeeded in convincing my fellow countrymen and women. The obstacles in my path were too numerous and too cruel. This defeat is mine, I accept the responsibility, it is mine and mine alone to bear. |
| We have to choose what is best for our country. Abstention is not in my genes, above all when an extremist party is close to power. The Front National is well known for its violence and its intolerance, and its programme would lead our country to bankruptcy and Europe into chaos. | We have to choose what is best for our country. Abstention is not in my genes, above all when an extremist party is close to power. The Front National is well known for its violence and its intolerance, and its programme would lead our country to bankruptcy and Europe into chaos. |
| Extremism can can only bring unhappiness and division to France. There is no other choice than to vote against the far right. I will vote for Emmanuel Macron. I consider it my duty to tell you this frankly. It is up to you to reflect on what is best for your country, and for your children. | Extremism can can only bring unhappiness and division to France. There is no other choice than to vote against the far right. I will vote for Emmanuel Macron. I consider it my duty to tell you this frankly. It is up to you to reflect on what is best for your country, and for your children. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 8.01pm BST | at 8.01pm BST |
| 7.48pm BST | 7.48pm BST |
| 19:48 | 19:48 |
| More from Marion Maréchal Le Pen, Marine’s niece and a Front National MP. Le Pen’s progression to the second round run-off is “a historic victory for patriots and sovereignists”, she said, adding she was happy with the “clear divide” with Macron. | More from Marion Maréchal Le Pen, Marine’s niece and a Front National MP. Le Pen’s progression to the second round run-off is “a historic victory for patriots and sovereignists”, she said, adding she was happy with the “clear divide” with Macron. |
| For fifteen years, there has not been a pro-sovereignty candidate in the second round of a presidential election. This is great ideological victory. | For fifteen years, there has not been a pro-sovereignty candidate in the second round of a presidential election. This is great ideological victory. |
| 7.42pm BST | 7.42pm BST |
| 19:42 | 19:42 |
| The French prime minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, has joined his Socialist party’s defeated candidate, Benoît Hamon, in urging the party’s voters to support Emmanuel Macron in the second round. | The French prime minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, has joined his Socialist party’s defeated candidate, Benoît Hamon, in urging the party’s voters to support Emmanuel Macron in the second round. |
| I solemnly call for a vote for Emmanuel Macron in the second round in order to beat the Front National and obstruct the disastrous project of Marine Le Pen that would take France backwards and divide the French people. | I solemnly call for a vote for Emmanuel Macron in the second round in order to beat the Front National and obstruct the disastrous project of Marine Le Pen that would take France backwards and divide the French people. |
| 7.33pm BST | 7.33pm BST |
| 19:33 | 19:33 |
| A (very) brief word from an Emmanuel Macron spokesman to the French news agency AFP: | A (very) brief word from an Emmanuel Macron spokesman to the French news agency AFP: |
| We’re turning a page in French political history. | We’re turning a page in French political history. |
| It is worth underlining that this is the first time in modern French history that neither of the mainstream centre-right or centre-left parties of government that have governed France since the second world war have qualified for the second round of a presidential election. | It is worth underlining that this is the first time in modern French history that neither of the mainstream centre-right or centre-left parties of government that have governed France since the second world war have qualified for the second round of a presidential election. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 7.51pm BST | at 7.51pm BST |
| 7.27pm BST | 7.27pm BST |
| 19:27 | 19:27 |
| Since you’re here …… we’ve got a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever, but far fewer are paying for it. Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. | Since you’re here …… we’ve got a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever, but far fewer are paying for it. Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. |
| So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too. | So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too. |
| If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure. You can give to the Guardian by becoming a monthly supporter or by making a one-off contribution. | If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure. You can give to the Guardian by becoming a monthly supporter or by making a one-off contribution. |
| 7.24pm BST | 7.24pm BST |
| 19:24 | 19:24 |
| Polling for a projected second round pitting Macron against Le Pen have consistently shown the centrist winning by a very comfortable margin. Here’s a Guardian graphic of the way the polls have developed over recent months: | Polling for a projected second round pitting Macron against Le Pen have consistently shown the centrist winning by a very comfortable margin. Here’s a Guardian graphic of the way the polls have developed over recent months: |
| 7.19pm BST | 7.19pm BST |
| 19:19 | 19:19 |
| Marion Maréchal Le Pen, Marine’s niece, has tweeted her delight at her aunt’s presence in the second round run-off on 7 May, describing it as “a great victory for patriots”: | Marion Maréchal Le Pen, Marine’s niece, has tweeted her delight at her aunt’s presence in the second round run-off on 7 May, describing it as “a great victory for patriots”: |
| "C'est une belle victoire pour tous les patriotes !" pic.twitter.com/JxQHZldOFp | "C'est une belle victoire pour tous les patriotes !" pic.twitter.com/JxQHZldOFp |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 7.24pm BST | at 7.24pm BST |