The first round of the 2017 French presidential election was held on 23 April 2017. As no candidate won a majority, a run-off election between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! and Marine Le Pen of the National Front (FN), will be held on 7 May 2017. Incumbent president François Hollande of the Socialist Party (PS) was eligible to run for a second term, but declared on 1 December 2016 that he would not seek reelection in light of low approval ratings, making him the first incumbent president of the Fifth Republic not to seek re-election. This is also the first French presidential election in which nominees of both the main centre-left and centre-right parties were selected through open primaries. The presidential election will be followed by a legislative election to elect members of the National Assembly on 11 and 18 June.
François Fillon of the Republicans (LR), after winning the party's first open primary, and Marine Le Pen of the National Front led first-round opinion polls in November 2016 and mid-January 2017. Polls tightened considerably by late January, and after the satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné published revelations that Fillon possibly employed family members in fictitious jobs as parliamentary assistants in what came to be colloquially known as "Penelopegate", Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! overtook Fillon to place consistently second in first-round polling. At the same time, Benoît Hamon won the Socialist Party primary, entering fourth place in the polls. After strong debate performances, Jean-Luc Mélenchon of La France insoumise began to rise significantly in polls in late March, overtaking Hamon to place just below Fillon.
The first round was held under a state of emergency that was declared following November 2015 Paris attacks. Following the result of the first round, Macron and Le Pen will continue to the 7 May runoff. It is the first time since 2002 that a National Front candidate continued to the second round and the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic that the runoff will not include a nominee of the traditional centre-left or centre-right parties; their combined share of the vote from eligible voters, at approximately 26%, was also a historic low.
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