Hollande ahead in first round of France's presidential election

Socialist candidate François Hollande won first place in the first round of France's presidential election Sunday with 28.4 per cent. Turnout was high, despite predictions of a high abstention rate, which would have worked against Hollande. Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen scored the highest ever proportion of the vote taken by her Front National.

Reuters/Jacky Naegelen

The result was bad news for incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, who took 25.5  per cent.

Opinion polls show him likely to lose the second round in a fortnight's time with the majority of votes for the runners-up going to Hollande in the two-candidate face-off.

An enthusiastic crowd, some carrying the party's symbolic red rose, filled the street in front of the Socialists' Paris headquarters.

Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen came third with 20 per cent, confounding the hopes of hard-left rising star Jean-Luc Mélenchon of stealing the spot from her.

Hollande's supporters declared the result a rejection of Sarkozy's policies.

But Le Pen's vote showed a rise in the share of the far right, which may mean to a tougher tone on its key issues, immigration, Islam and law and order, in the run-up to the second round.