Nearly complete French vote count puts Macron, Le Pen in second round
Marine Le Pen (C), French National Front (FN) political party leader and candidate for French 2017 presidential election, celebrates after early results in the first round of 2017 French presidential election, in Henin-Beaumont, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
Emmanuel Macron, head of the political movement En Marche !, or Onwards !, and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election, gestures to supporters after the first round of 2017 French presidential election in Paris, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
PARIS Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are leading in the official count of votes from the first round of France's presidential election with 46 million tallied so far, figures from the Interior Ministry showed on Monday.
With nearly all of France's 47 million strong electorate accounted for, the figures put Macron on 23.82 percent of votes and Le Pen on 21.58 percent, conservative Francois Fillon at 19.96 percent, and far-leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon on 19.49 percent.
(Reporting by Sybille de la Hamaide; writing by Leigh Thomas, Editing by John Irish)