Independent candidate Emmanuel Macron will beat far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a French presidential runoff with 58 per cent of the vote versus 42 per cent, according to a Figaro/LCI poll on Sunday.

The pollsters said Le Pen will lead in the first round with 27 per cent of the vote, up 2 per cent from the previous poll, closely followed by Macron with 25 per cent, up 4 percentage points from last poll.

Macron has been lifted in polls by the alliance with centrist Francois Bayrou, leader of the MoDem party. If the results remain as shown in the polls, it would mean that neither candidates of France's two major parties, the ruling Socialists, nor conservatives The Republicans, will make it to the second round, the pollsters said in a statement.

The Republicans candidate Francois Fillon is seen as taking third position in the first round of the vote with 20 per cent, while Socialist Benoit Hamon is fourth with 14 per cent, the polls showed.

Source : Times Of Oman