French Socialist, Green, conservative candidates back Macron in election run-off against Le Pen

In a boost for the president, Communist Party candidate Fabien Roussel, Socialist Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot of the Greens and right-wing Les Républicains candidate Valérie Pécresse said they would vote for him to prevent the far-right leader coming to power.

“So that France does not fall into hatred of all against all, I solemnly call on you to vote on April 24 against the far-right of Marine Le Pen,” Hidalgo said.

Pécresse warned of “disastrous consequences” if Macron did not win the runoff.

In a poll carried out by Ipsos & Sopra Steria for FRANCE 24 at 9pm (19:00 GMT), Macron secured 27.6 percent of the votes in the first round of the elections against Le Pen’s 23.0 percent.

French hardleft candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon simply called on his supporters not to vote for Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election that takes place on April 24.

“We know for whom we will never vote ... you should not support Le Pen ...  there must not be one single vote for Le Pen in the second round,” Mélenchon said in a speech to his supporters on Sunday.

But Le Pen can bank on support from far-right candidate Éric Zemmour, who called on Sunday evening for his supporters to vote for her, despite his "disagreements" with her.

"I call on my voters to vote for Marine Le Pen," the leader of the "Reconquest" party, which was eliminated in the first round with around 7 percent of the vote, said in a speech. "I do have disagreements with Marine Le Pen", but she is facing "a man who has brought 2 million immigrants" into France, he said of Macron.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)