For more than 20% of the French population to vote extreme right is extremely worrying. Urging hope in a future with Europe instead of fear - a reference to Le Pen's anti-European Union campaign - he declared: "The challenge is to open a new page of our political life".
Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen secured the two berths for the run-off in May 7 in a result that saw the two movements that have dominated French politics for 60 years eliminated in the first round, partial results showed. "Fillon has called on us to vote for Macron in the second round, so we wanted to hear his speech", said 21-year old biotech student Thomas Joucla.
The centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron and populist Marine Le Pen will go onto a second round vote, with Macron favored to win.
Macron and his wife have publicly described the unusual way their romance started - when he was a student at the high school where she was a teacher in the town of Amiens in northern France.
Britain's top share index jumped on Monday as banking stocks surged after centrist Emmanuel Macron came out on top in the first round of France's presidential election.
Hiring freeze or thaw?
She eventually moved to the French capital to join him, and divorced. "Either you choose in favor of a total lack of rules, without borders, with unlawful competition, the free circulation of terrorists, or you make the choice of a France that protects".
"It's a good thing that we will see something new, but I think it's a problem that each year we are seeing more people, now almost a quarter of the vote, for the Front National", says Alex Dupont, a 31-year-old sales manager living in Paris.
"Our model gives a level of US$1.12 in the event of a mainstream party win at the second round", said Valentin Marinov, head of G-10 FX research at Credit Agricole Commerzbank analyst Thu Lan Nguyen expects the projections "to be received positively by the markets".
"Nationalism is war", Macron, who grew up in Amiens, near the battlefields of World War I, told Le Pen in a televised debate earlier this month.
France's legislative election in June now takes on a vital importance, with huge questions about whether Le Pen and even the more moderate Macron will be able to rally sufficient lawmakers to their causes.
Putin criticizes opponents' corruption fight in Russian Federation
The institute was, until recently, run by Leonid Reshetnikov - seen here, left, with Iranian envoy Ali-Akbar Velayati in 2016. The institute says he served as the director of Russia's foreign intelligence service from 2007 to 2016.
A Paris police official says that no injuries have been reported in scuffles between protesters and police at the Place de la Bastille. Officers fired tear gas to disperse the rowdy crowd. She hesitates before finally admitting she voted for Le Pen.
After voting in Tulle, central France, Hollande said "democracy is stronger than all else", in a reference to the Champs Elysees attack.
Parisian Sophie Bricaire, 32, was among a group of eight French nationals watching the election results on France's TV5Monde channel while dining Sunday afternoon at Provence en Boite, in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens.
Fillon said he would vote for Macron on May 7 because Le Pen's program "would bankrupt France" and throw the European Union into chaos.
Le Pen replicated the success of her father and former leader of FN Jean-Marie Le Pen, who had qualified for the second round of the country's presidential election in 2002.
Only the defeated far-left candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, pointedly refused to back Macron.
Le Pen is in favor of a return to the French franc currency and has promised a referendum on remaining in Europe - à la Brexit - if she is elected.
Former front-runner Francois Fillon, a center-right candidate, conceded ahead of the exit polls, calling on the people of France to throw their weight behind Macron.
High-profile European leaders have also given Mr Macron their backing.
Voting took place amid heightened security in the first election under France's state of emergency, which has been in place since gun-and-bomb attacks in Paris in 2015. Three people were arrested, according to police.
Comments