With partial results putting Macron in first place ahead of Le Pen after Sunday’s first-round voting, other major candidates admitted defeat.

Except for another far-right candidate, Eric Zemmour, they all urged voters to block the far-right in two weeks’ time.

Ifop pollsters predicted a very tight runoff, with 51 per cent for Macron and 49 per cent for Le Pen.

The gap is so tight victory either way is within the margin of error.

“Nothing is decided,” Macron told supporters, urging all voters to rally behind him on April 24 to stop the far-right from ruling the European Union’s second-largest economy.

Other pollsters offered a slightly bigger margin in favour of Macron, with up to 54 per cent. But that was in any case much narrower than in 2017, when Macron beat Le Pen with 66.1 per cent of the votes.

Le Pen, who had eaten into Macron’s once-commanding 10-point poll lead in recent weeks thanks to a campaign focused on cost-of-living issues, said she was the one to protect the weak and unite a nation tired of its elite.

“What will be at stake on April 24 is a choice of society, a choice of civilisation,” she told supporters.

“I will bring order back to France.”

With 79 per cent of the votes counted for Sunday’s first round, Macron had garnered 27.28 per cent and Le Pen 25.94 per cent.

A Le Pen victory on April 24 would be a similar jolt to the establishment as Britain’s Brexit vote to leave the European Union, or Donald Trump’s 2017 entry into the White House.

France would lurch from being a driving force for European integration to being led by a euro-sceptic who is also suspicious of the NATO military alliance.

While Le Pen has ditched past ambitions for a ‘Frexit’ – hauling France out of the euro zone’s single currency – she envisages the EU as a mere alliance of sovereign states.

Conservative candidate Valerie Pecresse warned of “disastrous consequences” if Macron lost, while the Socialists’ Anne Hidalgo urged supporters to vote for him “so that France does not fall into hatred”.

“Not one vote for Le Pen,” said hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who, according to the estimates, placed third with around 20 per cent of the votes.

But they all also had harsh words for Macron and some of the very unpopular policies of his first mandate as well as an abrasive style that has put off many voters.

“Emmanuel Macron played with fire,” Pecresse told supporters.

Zemmour acknowledged disagreements with Le Pen, but said Macron was a worse choice.

Barely a month ago, Macron seemed on course for a comfortable re-election that, riding high in polls thanks to strong economic growth, a fragmented opposition and his statesman role in trying to avert war in Ukraine on Europe’s eastern flank.

But he paid a price for late entry into the campaign during which he eschewed market walkabouts in provincial France in favour of a single big rally outside Paris.

A plan to make people work longer also proved unpopular, enabling Le Pen to narrow the gap.

Le Pen, an open admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin until his invasion of Ukraine, had for months toured towns and villages across France. She focused on cost-of-living issues troubling millions and tapped into anger toward rulers.

-Reuters