"Nothing is decided," Emmanuel Macron said.

He's right.

His top spot with 27.6 percent of the votes is a positive signal on the way to his re-election.

He can't breathe easy yet.

Marine Le Pen wants the second ballot to be seen as a kind of referendum against him.

On election night she started wooing people who want to get rid of Macron.

From her point of view, that's everyone who didn't vote for Macron.

Michael Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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With 23.4 percent of the votes, she is in a better starting position than five years ago.

Eric Zemmour, her rival from the right, wants to support her from now on.

He called on his 2.4 million voters (seven percent) to help Le Pen get into the Elysée Palace.

She also once again supports Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, whom Le Pen wanted to make prime minister in 2017.

The right-wing politician received two percent more votes than Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, as a socialist presidential candidate (1.7 percent).

He finally wants to get out of the Elysée Palace

But what is Macron's strategy?

How does he intend to counter this 'without him' rallying cry and prevail in what he says is 'so crucial for France and Europe'?

By radically changing his campaign strategy, one might think after his appearance on election night.

Macron finally wants to leave the protective walls of the Elysée Palace and travel to areas that are not friendly to him.

On Monday he will travel to Denain, a town of 20,000 in the former coal and steel region near the Belgian border.

The socialist mayor recently cleared the city treasury there to help the residents make ends meet with a 50-euro fuel check.

In Denain, Marine Le Pen got more than 42 percent of the votes, Macron only 14.7 percent.

The candidate of the left-wing "People's Union", Jean-Luc Mélenchon, came in second with a good 28 percent.

It is a part of the France of the left that Macron has to convince that a “strong Europe” is better than a return to the nation and isolation, as promised by Le Pen.

Macron not only wants to swarm out into the country, he is also trying out a new face towards his political opponents.

On the evening of the election, he stretched out his hand, demonstratively listed the names of the ten candidates who were eliminated and expressed his respect for them.

He praised "Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot, Valérie Pécresse and Fabien Roussel" who called for voting against the extreme right.

In doing so, he made it clear that he still believes in the so-called Republican Front to prevent Le Pen.

Five years ago, this merger was still so strong that Le Pen had to admit defeat with a result of 33.9 percent.

He can only dream of such a big lead this time.

Many resent him for not being more respectful of their circumstantial support.

Macron knows that distrust is particularly high among Mélenchon's supporters.

But it depends on your voting behavior.

If they stay at home, then Le Pen has a chance.

That's why it was so important that on election night Mélenchon unequivocally called for Le Pen's path to power to be blocked.

"Not a single vote for Le Pen," he repeated like a mantra.

Large rally planned in Marseille

Macron has given Mélenchon nothing in recent years.

He repeatedly had his ministers denounce the "Islamo Left";

even undertake an investigation at the universities.

On the evening of the election, there was no longer any talk of the danger posed by the "Islamo Left"; instead, Macron defended a France "that does not forbid Muslims and Jews to eat according to the guidelines of their religion".

Macron is planning a major rally in Marseille, Mélenchon's adopted home, on Easter Saturday.

It is high time that he throws himself into the election campaign with full force.

Actually, he could have learned from the public debates after the yellow vest crisis how great his compatriots' need for direct exchange is.