FAR-RIGHT populist Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron claimed victory in Sunday’s first-round vote of the French presidential election.

Besting nine other candidates, the two will now face off in the second and final round May 7.

Celebrating his advancement, Macron addressed supporters in Paris in a speech that called for unity and reiterated his support for the EU.

He drew a sharp contrast with his opponent Le Pen, who has floated the idea of referendum — dubbed “Frexit” — on whether to leave or remain in the EU.

Sunday’s result marked the first time that no major-party candidate would contest the second-round vote.

Favored to win the second round, Macron, a 39-year-old former government minister, has never held elected office.

Macron is a centrist pro-European whose sensational political career, unorthodox marriage and promises to modernize France have made him a favorite for the presidency.

If he wins, the former banker would be the youngest French leader in modern history, upending tradition that has usually seen voters favor experience in their presidents.

Although positioned as an outsider, the brilliant student followed a well-worn path through elite French universities including ENA, which has groomed many French leaders.

After going into investment banking, where he earned several million euros at Rothschild, Macron became an economic adviser to French President Francois Hollande in 2012 and then economy minister in 2014.

In 2016, he quit his post to focus on his political career after creating his own political movement “On the Move,” which he described “neither in the left nor in the right.”

Heading the National Front party, the 48-year-old lawyer Le Pen portrayed herself as “the candidate of people” and a credible voice to secure secularism and French identity by toughening citizenship requirements, shutting borders and forbidding foreigners from access to any social aid.

She is the youngest daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front (NF), who made it to the final of the 2002 presidential election but ultimately failed to win the top job. She joined NF in 1986 at 18 and became the party’s vice president in 2003. In 2011, she succeeded her father to head the party created in 1972.

(SD-Agencies)

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