French President Emmanuel Macron and right-wing populist Marine Le Pen qualified for the crucial runoff election on Sunday.

According to the first projections, the candidate of the left-leaning “People's Union”, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, just missed making it into the second round with a result of 20.1 percent.

Michael Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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According to the projections, Macron came out on top with 28.1 percent of the votes.

Le Pen received 23.3 percent.

The two candidates face a runoff election in two weeks time, on April 24th.

The outcome of the vote is considered decisive for France's future European policy and thus also for the future of the EU.

Le Pen has announced that the first thing she wants to do as president is to remove the European flag.

She doesn't want to be the "governor of a European province," but to preside over a proud national state.

Although it is no longer planning Frexit and does not want to abolish the euro, it does want to defend a course of national self-assertion based on the model of Hungary and Poland.

If she moves into the Elysée, Le Pen has announced a referendum to enshrine in the French constitution that national law takes precedence over EU law.

It is unclear whether this perspective will lead to the formation of a so-called Republican Front against Le Pen.

In 2017, Macron managed to mobilize left-wing voters against Le Pen.

It was the same when party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, father of today's candidate, reached the second round in 2002.

The left-wing newspaper Liberation recently caused a stir when its cover pointed to the refusal of left-wing voters to commit themselves again to Macron.

With his announcement that he would raise the retirement age from 62 to 65, Macron has reduced the willingness of the left to save his re-election.

His election promise to oblige recipients of basic social benefits to work hours was also taken as “social coldness”.

According to the projections, Le Pen was able to increase her share of the vote by two percentage points compared to 2017;

Macron's result was four points higher than in the first round in 2017. The decline of the two former governing parties, the Republicans (LR) on the right and the Socialists (PS) on the left, continued.

The right-wing candidate Valérie Pécresse (LR) had to be satisfied with a single-digit result of five percent.

The result marks a historic negative record for her party.

In a 1963 referendum, the French voted to directly elect the president.

In 1965 they elected their head of state directly for the first time.

The negative trend also continued for the socialists.

Presidential candidate Anne Hidalgo, who heads the city hall in Paris, received only 2.1 percent of the votes, according to the first extrapolation.

In contrast, right-wing extremist career changer Eric Zemmour, a former journalist, received 7.2 percent of the vote with his “Reconquest” movement.

His recommendation was eagerly awaited.

Before the first round of voting, Zemmour had indicated that he was ready for joint rallies with Le Pen.

Le Pen can also hope for voter reserves among Mélenchon's supporters.

The left-leaning people's tribune had already announced that he would not make any recommendations for the runoff.

Already in 2017, a voter migration in favor of Le Pen was observed among his supporters.

According to the first projections, the Green candidate Yannick Jadot received 4.4 percent of the votes.

The Greens have always found it difficult to distinguish themselves in the presidential elections.

Noel Mamère achieved the best result in 2002 with 5.25 percent.

The communist candidate Fabien Roussel got 2.7 percent of the vote.

Five years ago, the communists, greens and socialists agreed on a common candidate.

However, the attempt at a left-wing unity candidacy was deemed to have failed because the candidate Benoit Hamon (PS) received only 6.2 percent of the votes.

The old people's parties have had their day

It is the third time in the history of the Fifth Republic that the Rassemblement National (formerly: Front National) can send a candidate to the runoff round.

For the first time, Marine Le Pen is the favourite.

On April 21, 2002, her father Jean-Marie surprisingly qualified for the duel.

In the second ballot, he received almost 20 percent of the votes.

In 2017, daughter Le Pen received 21.3 percent of the votes in the first ballot and improved to 33.9 percent of the votes in the second ballot.

48.7 million French were called to vote.

A total of twelve candidates applied, half belonged to the left and the other half to the right of the party spectrum.

The French head of state has far-reaching powers and holds office for five years.

According to the most recent estimates, turnout was 73.8 percent, lower than five years ago.

Long queues formed at some polling stations in Paris.

In Berlin, too, French people who wanted to vote at the embassy had to wait up to two hours.

The result shows that the profound upheaval in the French party landscape is continuing.

The two people's parties that have structured the political system since 1958 have had their day.