French election results - live: Macron win sparks protests, Le Pen ‘won’t give up’
Social media footage shows police using teargas on demonstrators
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Your support makes all the difference.Bitter demonstrations have broken out after Emmanuel Macron was re-elected as president of France on Sunday night.
Police charged and fired teargas at protesters, who took to the streets of Paris, Lyon, Montpellier and Toulouse to protest Mr Macron’s victory, which came despite a rise in popularity for the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
Footage on social media showed protesters in Montpellier chanting “Ni Marine, Ni Macron,” meaning “neither Marine, nor Macron,” while bins were set aflame in Toulouse.
In Paris, at Place de la République, protesters could be heard comparing Macron to the last King of France, King Louis XVI.
They could be heard saying, in French: “Louis Sixteenth, Louis Sixteenth, we beheaded him, Macron, Macron, we can start again”.
Meanwhile, Ms Le Pen’s 41.5 per cent of the vote signals growing popularity for France’s far-right movement, a result not lost on Ms Le Pen.
“In this defeat, I can’t help but feel a form of hope,” she said. “I will never abandon the French.”
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To read more of The Independent’s coverage of the French election, click here.
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Voting opens in France
Voting opened in France earlier this morning.
Will Emmanuel Macron become the first French president in two decades to be reelected? Or will Marine Le Pen become the first woman to hold the presidency?
The opinion polls suggest the incumbent president will see off his far-right rival. However, he has warned France not to take his victory for granted.
The warning comes as pollsters predict a record-high number of people will not vote.
Candidates both have ‘huge weakness’, says pollster
The polls have now been open for just over two hours. They will close at 8pm local time (6pm GMT).
Speaking of the candidates, Bernard Sananes, who works for the pollster Elabe, said: “Each of them has a huge weakness.”
“Emmanuel Macron is considered arrogant by more than one in two voters and Marine Le Pen remains scary for half of them.”
French election in photos
How France's old-school voting system works
For those wanting to know more about how France’s voting system works, here’s a useful explainer:
EXPLAINER: How France's old-school voting system works
French voters in the presidential election are using an old-school voting system that has defied calls for more flexibility or modernization
Watch live: French polling opens as Le Pen takes on Macron
When will the French election results be announced?
#icymi
Joe Sommerlad explains when we’re likely to hear the results of today’s vote:
When will the French election results be announced?
Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen enter finals days of campaigning ahead of Sunday’s vote
French voters head to the polls
French politicians vote in run-off election
Like many other leading French politicians, the Socialist party’s presidential candidate Anne Hidalgo has tweeted from the ballot box this morning.
Here’s the Paris mayor’s post:
A lesser evil: Young French struggle to back Macron despite worries over Le Pen
For many young people in France, the choice between voting for Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen in Sunday’s presidential run-off is unpalatable.
“I feel like I can’t really give him my vote here, even just to block Le Pen,” one young French voter told The Independent, adding that she sees him as “condescending and arrogant”.
Read the rest of my report here:
A lesser evil: Young French struggle to back Macron despite worries over Le Pen
Many younger French people have a desperate choice in Sunday’s election - vote for someone they don’t like, or face the prospect of a Le Pen presidency, reports Rory Sullivan
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