Current French President Emmanuel Macron has won the 2022 French presidential elections, renewing his term after being elected as President in 2017. 

The French President won by 58%, while his opponent, Marine Le Pen, received a 42% of the voter turnout. 

Although there was a relatively low voter turnout, the elections this year exhibited high competitiveness, with Macron projecting popularity among French citizens despite his neoliberal policies. 

French President Emmanuel Macron was on course Sunday to win a second term by defeating far-right leader Marine Le Pen in presidential elections, projections showed.

Macron was set to win 57.0-58.5% of the vote compared with Le Pen on 41.5-43.0%, according to projections by polling firms for French television channels based on a sample of the vote count.

The result is narrower than their second-round clash in 2017 when the same two candidates met in the run-off and Macron polled over 66% of the vote.

Macron supporters are celebrating Macron's second-term victory in front of the Eiffel Tower. 

According to the French Ministry of Interior earlier today, in the second round of the French presidential election, the voter turnout reached 63.23% as of 15:00 GMT.

Election polls opened at 6:00 GMT on Sunday as the final second round of presidential elections take place. 

According to the Ministry, the 2022 turnout as of 15:00 GMT is lower than the last two presidential elections at the same time.

"In 2017, the turnout rate at 17:00 [1500 GMT] for the second round of the presidential election in metropolitan France was 65.30%. In 2012, this rate was 71.96% at the same time," the Ministry said.

The final rate of abstention is set to reach 28%, up 2.5% from 2017, according to our partners Ipsos-Sopra Steria.
 
That would be the highest level for a presidential run-off since 1969 when two center-right candidates faced off in a somewhat inconsequential clash.

Macron will be the first French president to win re-election since Jacques Chirac in 2002 after his predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande left office after only one term.

The 44-year-old is to make a victory speech on the Champ de Mars in central Paris at the foot of the Eiffel Tower where flag-waving supporters erupted in joy when the projections appeared at 8:00 pm local time (1800 GMT).