Emmanuel Macron, French presidential candidate for the On the Move (En Marche) movement, delivers a speech at a rally after the first round of French presidential election in Paris, France on April 23, 2017. (Xinhua/Jose Rodriguez)
Final results issued by the French Interior Ministry confirmed that the centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron dominated the vote in Sunday's first round of the French presidency.
Macron came first with 24.01 percent of the vote while Marine Le Pen, head of far-right National Front party (FN), came second with 21.30 percent of the vote or 47.581 million ballots for her.
The two frontrunners qualify for a run-off on May 7.
Conservative ex-prime minister Francois Fillon got 20 percent of the vote, slightly ahead of hard-left Jean-Luc Melenchon's 19.58 percent.
According to ministry data, the voting turnout in the presidential election's first leg stood at 77.8 percent, slightly down from 2012.
