As the votes were counted on Monday, a clear picture of where and how the victors won. Centrist Emmanuel Macron who leads a movement called En Marche, won the first round with 23.75%, winning big in metropolitan centres and the west of France while far right leader of the Front National, Marine Le Pen, who captured 21.53% of the vote, had her strongest victories along the Mediterranean in the South East of France, the northern and north-eastern parts of the country. These represent Ms. Le Pen’s traditional rural base as well as the industrial towns of the north which have suffered from high unemployment rates.

The two candidates will spend the next two weeks hitting the campaign trail. May Day (May 1) , when trade unions traditionally take out marches and there are protests across France, as well as May 3, when the two presidential candidates will have a televised debate are expected to be significant for the campaigns. Jacques Chirac, former Republican president of France had declined to debate his far right opponent, Ms. Le Pen’s father, in 2002.

Mr. Macron and Ms. Le Pen differ sharply in their vision for France and its place in the European Union (EU), the economy, as well as security issues and migration, a contrast that is expected to be emphasized over the next two weeks.

At Sunday night’s gathering of supporters in a convention centre in Paris, Mr. Macron, who was visibly moved at several points during his speech, said that he would like to “relaunch the European project” and said he wanted to bring “patriots” together against “nationalists”.

Ms. Le Pen, who called her second place victory historic, told her supports that globalization was endangering French civilization.

Ms. Le Pen beat her own previous record of votes in the first round of 2012, when she won 17.9% of the vote. However, Mr. Macron is expected to win the run off against Ms. Le Pen.

Mainstream Parties Discuss Strategy

For the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic (established 1958), neither of the two mainstream parties – the Socialists of the left and the Republicans of the right are in the final run-off. Having been eliminated, the top brass of these parties threw their weight behind Emmanuel Macron.

“I assure you that extremism can only bring division and misfortune to France,” Francois Fillon , the Republican candidate who came in third on Sunday with 19.91% of the vote said, urging his supporters to vote for the centre and shun the far right on May 7.

The Republicans gathered on Monday to discuss their strategy for Round 2 of the elections as well as the party’s leadership going forwards – Mr. Fillon failed to recover sufficiently from a scandal involving official payments made to his family members for work they may not have done.

The candidate of the left, the Socialist Party’s (PS) Benoit Hamon, made it clear that he would support Mr. Macron in Round 2, saying he knew the difference between “a political adversary [Mr. Macron] and an enemy of the Republic [Ms. Le Pen].”

The national office of the Socialists was unanimous in their support for Mr. Macron, First Secretary of the Socialist Party, Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, said on Monday.

Sitting President, Francois Hollande, also of the PS, said late on Monday afternoon that Ms. Le Pen would be a “risk” for France and that he would be voting for Mr. Macron in the run-off.

Far left candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, who made significant gains in the pre-poll surveys as Sunday approached, but came in fourth on Sunday at 19.64%, did not direct his supporters on how to vote on May 7.

“ We have been the most radical and militant opponents of the Front National…everybody knows what we think …we hate the Front National, they are our arch-enemies,” Olivier Tonneau, a University of Cambridge academic who is authorized to speak on behalf of Mr. Melenchon’s movement, La France Insoumise, told The Hindu.

“The immediate rallying behind Mr. Macron is something that serves to make it as if that by avoiding the Front National we have resolved all issues, “ Mr. Tonneau said , adding that the absence of an immediate declaration of support would send the Macron camp a message that they could not take the far left for granted.