Imagine if the SPD and CDU had disappeared.

That is exactly what happened in France.

In the first ballot of the presidential election on Sunday, the former governing parties from left and right no longer played a role.

Emmanuel Macron maintained the top spot with 28 percent of the vote, attracting a pro-European electorate left and right of centre.

But the result reveals a new party landscape that is dominated by the fringes.

Michael Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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According to the projections, the left-wing populist Jean-Luc Mélenchon received almost 22 percent of the votes with his “People's Union” and only just missed the runoff.

Marine Le Pen has improved on her result from five years ago and, with a good 23 percent of the vote, is becoming a serious threat to Macron's re-election.

On the evening of the election, she appealed to all voters who had not voted for Macron to join her.

It was "a civilizational decision," she said.

Zemmour speaks of the "people who do not want to perish"

Le Pen appealed to “all patriots” to prevent Macron from being re-elected.

Eric Zemmour, the political novice who previously caused a sensation as a journalist with Islamophobic theses, called on his voters to vote for Le Pen.

With a result of almost eight percent, a force to the right of Le Pen asserted itself for the first time. Zemmour said on election night: "The cry of the people who do not want to perish was heard."

Not only from Zemmour's ranks, but also disappointed voters from the right-wing party Les Républicains (LR) could vote for Le Pen in the second ballot.

For example, LR politician Eric Ciotti said on television that Macron would not get his vote.

In addition, he finds election recommendations no longer up-to-date.

Ciotti came second in the membership vote for his party's presidential candidacy.

Valérie Pécresse, the candidate of the French sister party of the CDU, admitted her heavy defeat shortly after 8 p.m.

She had to worry all evening whether she would reach the five percent hurdle required to reimburse campaign costs.

Their fall is dramatic: five years ago, the right-wing candidate Francois Fillon scored more than 20 percent.

The same happened to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who ran for the Socialist Party (PS).

It was less than two percent behind the communist candidate.

Both Hidalgo and Pécresse announced that they would vote for Macron in the second ballot.

However, Hidalgo combined her appearance with an election recommendation in favor of the president in order to prevent the rise of the extreme right.

Unlike Fillon in 2017, Pécresse refrained from doing so.

Macron took by far the most time to comment on the result.

Shortly before 10 p.m. he appeared on the stage in the hall of the Paris Exhibition Center at the Porte de Versailles.

He was celebrated with shouts of “Macron Président”.

He, too, called on the French to rally behind him in favor of "France and Europe".

And he assured: "Nothing will be the same again." His supporters twirled French and European flags in the same place as they did five years ago.

But the joy was dampened by Marine Le Pen's success.