French election results - live: Macron win sparks protests, Le Pen ‘won’t give up’

Social media footage shows police using teargas on demonstrators

Emmanuel Macron wins second term as French president after Marine Le Pen concedes defeat

Bitter demonstrations have broken out after Emmanuel Macron was re-elected as president of France on Sunday night.

Police charged and fired teargas at protesters, who took to the streets of Paris, Lyon, Montpellier and Toulouse to protest Mr Macron’s victory, which came despite a rise in popularity for the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Footage on social media showed protesters in Montpellier chanting “Ni Marine, Ni Macron,” meaning “neither Marine, nor Macron,” while bins were set aflame in Toulouse.

In Paris, at Place de la République, protesters could be heard comparing Macron to the last King of France, King Louis XVI.

They could be heard saying, in French: “Louis Sixteenth, Louis Sixteenth, we beheaded him, Macron, Macron, we can start again”.

Meanwhile, Ms Le Pen’s 41.5 per cent of the vote signals growing popularity for France’s far-right movement, a result not lost on Ms Le Pen.

“In this defeat, I can’t help but feel a form of hope,” she said. “I will never abandon the French.”

Follow live updates on the French election below

Key Points

• Macron defeats rival Le Pen with almost 60% votes
• Exit polls point to Macron win
• Le Pen calls exit poll results ‘shining victory’ despite predicted loss
• Pollsters predict biggest abstention rate in decades
• Polls open in France as Macron takes on Le Pen
• Le Pen drawing on anger I haven’t quelled, Macron says

[24 April 2022 16:27 · Zoe Tidman]

Voter turnout now down from first round

Voter turnout was at 63 per cent as of 5pm French time:

This is now down from the first round, when turnout was 65 per cent at the same time.

[24 April 2022 16:30 · Zoe Tidman]

Turnout also lower than previous election

This turnout rate is also below the 65.3 per cent recorded at the same time in the 2017 election.

[24 April 2022 16:45 · Zoe Tidman]

Pollsters predict biggest abstention rate in decades

Pollsters are predicting the highest abstention level in over 50 years in today’s vote between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.

France‘s main polling institutes Ipsos and Ifop said on Sunday they saw the likely abstention rate at the end of the day at 28 per cent.

They increased their estimate after the turnout rate as of 5pm was released.

If their prediction turns out to be true, it would top the quarter of voters who abstained in 2017 in what was the lowest turnout ever recorded in a French presidential election final since 1969.

Analysts say a low turnout adds to uncertainty surrounding the final result.

Additional reporting by Reuters

[24 April 2022 17:00 · Zoe Tidman]

Voters in London believe election could bring ‘big change'

French voters in the UK on both sides of the political spectrum have said they believe the presidential election could bring a “big change” to the nation in the form of a shift to the right.

Reports from the polls in London:

[24 April 2022 17:30 · Zoe Tidman]

Here is what some voters are saying...

Macron

Stephanie David - who voted for the Communist candidate in the first round - cast her ballot for Mr Macron “without much joy” in a Paris suburb today. “It was the least worst choice,” she said.

In Douai, a town in northern France, 69-year-old pensioner Andrea Loeuillet said she had voted for Mr Macron, as she did in the first round.

“He has his faults but he has qualities too. He is the one best placed to continue, we are living through difficult times,” she said.

Le Pen

In Souille in northwestern France, 56-year-old civil servant Pascal Pauloin said he had voted for Ms Le Pen out of disenchantment with Macron.

“I am very disappointed. Our France has not been working well for years. Macron has done nothing for the middle classes, and the gap with the rich is getting ever wider,” he said.

Neither

Jean-Pierre Roux voted to keep out Marine Le Pen in 2017. But the retiree said he could not bring himself to vote for Mr Macron, who he considered too arrogant. “I am not against his ideas but I cannot stand the person,” he said.

Mr Roux put an empty envelope in the voting box.

Hugo Winter, a 26-year-old salesman in Paris, said he would not cast a vote today.

“I don’t see the point in choosing between two things that don’t correspond to my ideas,” he said. “We live in a parallel world. The politicians don’t represent the people.”

[24 April 2022 17:49 · Zoe Tidman]

Who are the two candidates?

French voters are not only choosing between two visions of France, but also two very different people.

Take a closer look at the two candidates here:

[24 April 2022 18:14 · Zoe Tidman]

Images of election

Here are some more photos of the election from France itself and elsewhere:

Andre Larrieu, the first deputy mayor, waits for voters in the village's only polling station on the day of the second round of the presidential elections in Baren, southern France (AFP via Getty Images)

Officials work at a polling station in Le Mont-Saint-Michel, northwestern France (AFP via Getty Images)

Voters cast ballots in Burkina Faso (AFP via Getty Images)

A polling station for the French presidential elections in Brussels (BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)

[24 April 2022 18:58 · Zoe Tidman]

Not long until the first exit polls now. We are expecting them to come through anytime after 8pm French time (7pm BST).

[24 April 2022 19:02 · Zoe Tidman]

Exit polls point to Macron win

The first exit polls are predicting 58.2 per cent for Emmanuel Macron.

[24 April 2022 19:09 · Zoe Tidman]

Macron supporters celebrate exit polls

Emmanuel Macron’s supporters who had gathered at the Eiffel Tower erupted in cheers at the first exit poll results.

See here:

Supporters react after exit polls predict Macron win (AFP via Getty Images)