Macron ahead in first round of French elections with over 27% of vote

France's Incumbent President Emmanuel Macron maintains his lead in the first round of the presidential election after over 95 per cent of the ballots were processed, according to interim results published by the Interior Ministry.

Macron currently has 27.41 per cent of the votes, while far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is second with 24.03 per cent. Jean-Luc Melenchon is third with 21.57 per cent, and Eric Zemmour is fourth with 6.97 per cent.

The second round of the presidential election will be held in France on April 24.

Earlier, President Emmanuel Macron thanked the leftist and conservative camps for backing his reelection bid after the first round of voting showed him tied with right-winger Marine Le Pen.

"I thank [Socialist] Anne Hidalgo, [conservative] Valerie Pecresse, and [Communist] Fabien Roussel for lending me their support tonight," he said in a post-vote speech.

The first official results put Macron in second place with 26.67%. With 50% of the ballots counted, Le Pen is leading the race with 27.53% of the vote.

Le Pen, who has been backed by right-wing Eric Zemmour and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, said she would be the president of all the French if she won the runoff on April 24.