Nothing decided, upcoming weeks decisive for France: Macron

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Nothing has been decided through the first round of elections, President Macron said Sunday following the conclusion of the elections that saw him leading the race against his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen.

Macron and Le Pen had led the polls during the first round of the presidential race, with a slight lead for the incumbent president, who won 28.1-29.7%, around 5% more than Le Pen's 23.3-24.7%.

The top two candidates will face each other in the second round set for April 24, projections by polling firms for French television channels said based on a sample of votes.

Macron stressed that the next fortnight would be "decisive for our country and Europe" ahead of the runoffs that will see him head to head with his rival whom he had also gone against before in 2017 and emerged victoriously.

"Make no mistake: nothing is decided. The debate that we are going to have over the next fortnight will be decisive for our country and Europe," the president told supporters at his campaign headquarters.

Macron also urged those cheering for him to "spare no effort" to win over voters to his side. 

The president has so far garnered support from several opponents, mainly left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who came in third place and called on his supporters and the French public to pivot away from the extremist.

Another boost for the President also came from his other opponents. Communist Party candidate Fabien Roussel, Socialist Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot of the Greens, and right-wing Republican candidate Valerie Pecresse said they would vote for him to prevent the far-right leader from coming to power.

Only fellow far-right candidate Eric Zemmour voiced support for his counterpart that will be making it to the runoff election, when he urged his supporters to vote for Marine Le Pen on April 24.