Updates: Emmanuel Macron Re-elected for a Second Term, France

This Sunday night, victory is projected to be granted to Emmanuel Macron. He is set to become the first French president re-elected in the country's modern political era outside periods of co-habitation (when a prime minister belongs to a different party than the president).

It is said that French voters always chose change, until tonight. Today marks the first time that voters chose to re-elect and stay the course.

During her concession speech in Paris, Marine Le Pen said to her supporters, "We could have seen a great wind of freedom sweep across this country", but French voters "decided otherwise".

She deems her showing tonight "a sparkling victory" nonetheless. Le Pen says opponents deemed her party dead "thousand times and a thousand times they were wrong".

The ideas "that we represent are reaching summits", says Le Pen.

"I will pursue my commitment for France and the French," she says. Le Pen pledges to lead the National Rally's next electoral battle, June legislative elections, saying French voter have shown they want another force to counter-balance Macron's power as president.

"Long live the Republic and long live France," she concludes, before leading supporters in a rendition of the national anthem, "La Marseillaise".

Macron is due to speak on the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower, in an area where dozens of cameras and journalists have arrived.

Under a cloudy sky, the media are settling in, while the public should start arriving in a few minutes, our journalist was able to check on the spot.

Supporters of the current president are flocking to the Champs de Mars gardens, with European and French flags in hand.

Polling Stations Begin to Close in France

Polling stations are closing everywhere except in the cities. Voters in Paris and other large urban centres have another hour to cast their ballots.

The polling stations opened their doors at eight o'clock in the morning and were scheduled to close at seven o'clock in the evening, although in the main cities they will remain open until eight o'clock.

From that time onwards, the first results of the vote count will be published.

2022 Elections with Highest Abstention Rate in 50 years

The figures confirm a trend forecast by polling institutes who said this year's final vote between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen would see the highest abstention level in over 50 years. The final rate of abstention is set to reach 28.2 percent, up 2.5 percent from 2017, according to our partners Ipsos-Sopra Steria.

French Presidential Runoff Advances With Low Turnout

The turnout for the second round of the presidential election in France stood at 63.23 percent at 17H00 local time (11H00 EST), almost two points lower than in 2017, 65.3 percent, recorded at the same time five years ago, the Interior Ministry announced on Sunday.

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The turnout, on the other hand, is slightly higher than that of the first round two weeks ago (25.48%).

French citizens began to go to the polls this Sunday in the second and final round to choose, between the centrist leader Emmanuel Macron and the far-right Marine Le Pen, for president of the country for the period 2022-2027.

Polling stations opened their doors at 08H00 local time (02H00 EST) and will be operating until 19H00 local time (13H00 EST), although they may extend their work in case there is the presence of voters.

The candidate for re-election, president of France, Emmanuel Macron, nominated by the Republic on the March, whose official name is Association for the Renewal of Political Life, voted this Sunday along with his wife Brigitte Macron, in Touquet, in the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

For her part, the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, nominated by National Rally, voted in her stronghold of Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais) accompanied by the mayor of the town since 2014, Steeve Briois, and an assistant of the latter, the deputy Bruno Bilde.  

More than 48.7 million citizens were called to vote and the electoral authorities expect to announce the first results on Sunday evening.

The first round of the French elections, held last April 10, was won by Macron, who is seeking re-election, with 27.8 percent of the valid votes cast, four percentage points ahead of Le Pen, of the right-wing National Rally.