Macron 'to blow Le Pen out of the water’ in final round of French election

Emmanuel Macron will “blow Marine Le Pen out of the water” as the French presidential elections head to a second round of voting, leading politics experts believe. 

The centrist made historic gains in the first round, with his independent En Marche! campaign receiving 23.8 per cent of the vote, closely followed by the National Front candidate on 21.5 per cent. 

However, despite the tight margin, experts believe there are very few scenarios that could put the brakes on Mr Macron's charge to the Élysée Palace.

French politics expert Dr Rainbow Murray, from Queen Mary University of London, told The Independent Mr Macron is set to "blow Le Pen out of the water" and said it would take a scandal of "significant proportion" to ruin his chances. 

“The presidency is Macron’s for the taking. Le Pen is too divisive and she does not have the majority of the electorate that she would need,” she said. 

“An unprecedented scandal is the only scenario, as I see it, that could halt Macron’s chances, even another terrorist attack I think wouldn't change the outcome.”

The chart above, created for The Independent by statistics agency Statista, shows Mr Macron polling at 63.1 per cent on average in the second round, versus Ms Le Pen’s 36.9 per cent score. 

French politics expert and fellow at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) Dr Joseph Downing said all the signs point to a Macron presidency being a “safe bet”. 

“I think he is going to do a good enough job of reaching out to voters of other parties so I don’t think it will be tight in the second round at all,” he told The Independent. 

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