Emmanuel Macron leads Marine Le Pen in French election battle

Paris French President Emmanuel Macron was on course to beat far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the

French President Emmanuel Macron was on course to beat far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the first round of France’s elections on April 10 by a larger than expected margin, with the rivals now set to battle for the presidency in a run-off later this month.

Projections showed Mr. Macron scoring 28.6-29.7% in the first round and Ms. Le Pen on 23.5-24.7%, with the top two candidates going through to the second round run-off on April 24.

Despite entering the campaign late and holding just one rally before the vote, Mr. Macron appears to have performed more strongly than predicted by pre-vote opinion polls and won immediate support from defeated rivals for the second round.

Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon was predicted to come third with 19.8-20.8%, while the candidates for France’s traditional parties of Government — the Socialists and the Republicans -- were on course for humiliating defeats and historic low scores.

Far-right pundit Eric Zemmour, a political newcomer running for the first time, was projected to win 6.5-7.1%.

“It’s a new campaign that is opening now,” French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said after the publication of the projections, which led supporters of Mr. Macron to erupt in joy at the candidate’s headquarters in Paris.

The final-round duel between Mr. Macron and Ms. Le Pen is expected to be tighter than the run-off between them in 2017, when the current President thrashed Ms. Le Pen with 66% of the vote.