French president Francois Hollande casts his ballot on Sunday. Credit:AP "The presence of the far-right in the second round is a risk for the country," he said. "What is at stake is France's make-up, its unity, its membership of Europe and its place in the world." Global markets reacted with relief to Sunday's vote, which broke the dominance of established parties of the centre-left and centre-right but still left the most market-friendly and internationally-minded of the remaining contenders in pole position to become France's next leader. The euro touched five-month peaks while Europe's STOXX 600 index rose 2 per cent. Surveys pointing to a clear Macron victory soothed investors who have been unnerved by Ms Le Pen's pledges to ditch the euro, print money and possibly quit the EU. Many had feared another anti-establishment shock to follow Britain's "Brexit" vote and Donald Trump's election as US president.

Leaders from the two major parties are urging unity against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. Credit:AP Battle begins Opening the battle for second-round votes, Ms Le Pen highlighted the continuing threat of Islamist militancy, which has claimed more than 230 lives in France since 2015, saying the 39-year-old Mr Macron was "to say the least, weak" on the issue. Ms Le Pen has promised to suspend the EU's open-border agreement on France's frontiers and expel foreigners who are on the watch lists of intelligence services. French centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron is ahead in all major polls. Credit:AP

Mr Macron's internal security programme calls for 10,000 more police officers, and 15,000 new prison places, and he has recruited a number of security experts to his entourage. However, opinion polls over the course of the campaign have consistently found voters to be more concerned about the economy and the trustworthiness of politicians. Others in Ms Le Pen's campaign took aim on Monday at what they see as further weak spots: Mr Macron's previous job as an investment banker and his role as a deregulating economy minister under Mr Hollande. Analysts say Ms Le Pen's best chance of overhauling Mr Macron's lead in the polls is to paint him as a part of an elite aloof from ordinary French people and their problems. "Emmanuel is not a patriot. He sold off national companies. He criticised French culture," Florian Philippot, deputy leader of Ms Le Pen's National Front, told BFM TV.

Mr Philippot called Mr Macron "arrogant" and said his victory speech on Sunday had shown disdain for the French people by making it appear as though the presidency was already won. In that speech, Mr Macron appeared to respond to Ms Le Pen's claim to be the protector of France's workers and their values by saying: "I want to be the president of patriots in the face of a threat from nationalists." Ms Le Pen needs to avoid a repetition of 2002, when her father, National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, surprisingly made the second round, but was then humiliated by right-wing president Jacques Chirac as mainstream parties united to block a party they considered racist and anti-Semitic. His daughter has done much to soften the National Front's image, gathering support especially among young people - a quarter of whom are unemployed - with her promises to push back against "rampant globalisation". Building a majority

Still, two defeated candidates - conservative Francois Fillon and Socialist Benoit Hamon - did not even wait for Sunday's count to urge their supporters to rally behind Mr Macron, who took 23.74 per cent of votes on Sunday to Ms Le Pen's 21.53. A Harris survey saw Mr Macron going on to win the run-off against her by 64 per cent to 36. An Ipsos/Sopra Steria poll gave a similar result while a new poll by Opinionway on Monday put the margin at 61 per cent to 39 percent. Whichever candidate wins on May 7 will need to try to build a majority six weeks later in a parliament where the National Front currently has only two seats and Mr Macron's year-old En Marche! (Onwards!) movement has none. Mr Macron has already enlisted some 50 sitting Socialist lawmakers to his cause, as well as a number of centrist party grandees. Manuel Valls, a former Socialist prime minister on the right wing of the party who broke with the far-left Mr Hamon's campaign after failing to beat him for the party ticket, said on Monday he would be ready to work with Mr Macron.

"We must help him (Macron) as much as we can to ensure Le Pen is kept as low as possible," Mr Valls told France Inter radio. Sunday's outcome was a huge defeat for the two centre-right and centre-left groupings that have dominated French politics for 60 years. Conservative Francois Fillon, who had been the favourite to win the election before allegations emerged that he had paid his wife and two children from the public purse for work they did not do, came third with less than 20 per cent. He said on Monday that he would not be at the forefront of his party's parliamentary campaign. Mr Hamon got only a third of the 19.5 per cent secured by the maverick former Trotskyist Jean-Luc Melenchon, emphasising the disarray of the French Left after five years of Hollande. Reuters