PARIS (CNN) — The 2017 French presidential election comes to a head on Sunday (May 7) as voters make their final choice: far-right candidate Marine Le Pen or her independent centrist rival Emmanuel Macron. Get the latest developments below.
Key Updates 6:46 p.m. BST:
- Emmanuel Macron is on course for a historic win, exit estimates say
- The independent centrist is leading 65.9% to 34.1% over far-right leader Marine Le Pen
- Le Pen has conceded after calling Macron to congratulate him
CNN’s Jim Bittermann describes the atmosphere in Paris as “electric,” pointing out that if initial estimates are correct, Macron will be the youngest President France has ever had at 39 years old, which is an incredible rise to power given that one year ago he wasn’t being registered in polls.
He added: “It’s an amazing thing not lost on this crowd at all! Marine Le Pen did much poorer than expected … abstentions were very high but low turnout seems to have favored Macron and not Le Pen as was expected.”
