Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen projected to advance to runoff in French elections

April 10 (UPI) — Incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen are set to face off in a run-off election as voters took to the polls Sunday to narrow down a field of 12.

Macron, a centrist, held 28.5% of the vote compared to Le Pen’s 24.2% as they emerged at the top of the pack, according to projections based on preliminary ballot counts published by French polling agencies as polls closed.

Macron trounced Le Pen when they faced off in 2017, winning 66.9% of the vote to her 33.1% but this race is projected to be much closer with polls taken before the vote Sunday showing Macron gathering 52% of the vote and Le Pen receiving 48% in a second round matchup.

Following the projections, several candidates including leftists Fabien Roussel, Anne Hidalgo and Yannick Jadot, as well as center-right candidate Valerie Pecresse, called on their supporters to vote for Macron in hopes of preventing a Le Pen victory in the second round.

“Tonight I am deeply worried: the far right has never been so close to winning,” said Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris.

Far-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon, who was in a close third with about 21% of the vote urged that voters “must not give a single vote to Madame Le Pen.”

As of 5 p.m. local time, voter turnout was 65%, down 4% from the previous election in 2017 with abstention expected to reach 26.5%, up more than 4% from the first round of the last election and just short of the record of 28.4% in 2002.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a central issue leading up to the election.

Macron has seen his support increase as he has been a central figure negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the violent war and work with NATO and the European Union.

His support has waned some in the lead-up to the election as he declined to participate in debates with other candidates and did not deliver campaign speeches.

Le Pen, who has sought to portray a more moderate stance after being soundly defeated by Macron in the 2017 election, has distanced herself from Putin and softened her hardline immigration policies to allow Ukrainian refugees.