France: Hollande Wins First Round of Presidential Election - UPDATE

UPDATE: The results of the first round of the French presidential elections:

Francois Hollande: 28.8%
Nicolas Sarkozy: 26.1%

Marine Le Pen: 18.5%

Jean-Luc Melenchon: 11.7%

Francois Bayrou: 8.8%

Eva Joly: 2.3%
Others: 3.8%

Francois Hollande
Photo: Caroline Blumberg/EPA

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Francois Hollande of the Socialist Party will finish first in the first round of the French presidential election. The exit polls show he would receive 28% of the votes to President Sarkozy’s 25%. The exit polls also show that the candidate of the extreme right Marine le Pen will receive 20% of the votes and the candidate supported by the French Communist party and the far left Jean-Luc Melenchon will receive 12%.

The results, if stand, will be a major victory for Marine le Pen, bringing in a record percentage of the vote for the Front National (one in five French citizens voting for the extreme right), and a major upset for the far left candidate Mélenchon who was expected to finish third in previous polls. The results also throw out previous predictions of a sure victory for Hollande over Sarkozy in the second round on 6 May.

UPDATE: With 33 percent of the vote counted, Hollande has 27.5% percent of the votes and Sarkozy 26.6%. Le Pen is in third with 19.9%. Mélenchon who is finishing a disappointing fourth with 10% of the votes, has asked his supporters to come out in force during the second round to defeat Sarkozy. The centrist Democratic Movement candidate Francois Bayou has 9% and Green's Joly 2% of the votes. 71% of all eligible voters cast their votes in a strong turnout during the first round.

UPDATE: An Ipsos Mori poll conducted for France 24 shows that the Socialist candidate Hollande will win the second round convincingly, supported by 54% of likely voters, as opposed to 46% for Sarkozy. Hollande would become the first Socialist president since Mitterrand who won two elections in 1980s.