2017 French presidential election

French presidential election, 2017

← 2012 23 April 2017 (first round) 7 May 2017 (second round) 2022 →
Nominee Emmanuel Macron Marine Le Pen Party EM FN Popular vote 20,743,128 10,638,475 Percentage 66.1% 33.9%
Results of the second round by department      Emmanuel Macron      Marine Le Pen
President before election François Hollande PS Elected President Emmanuel Macron EM

François Hollande
PS

Emmanuel Macron
EM

The 2017 French presidential election was held on 23 April and 7 May 2017. As no candidate won a majority in the first round on 23 April, a run-off was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! and Marine Le Pen of the National Front (FN), which Macron won by a decisive margin on 7 May. The presidential election was followed by legislative elections to elect members of the National Assembly on 11 and 18 June. Incumbent president François Hollande of the Socialist Party (PS) was eligible to run for a second term, but declared on 1 December 2016 that he would not seek reelection in light of low approval ratings, making him the first incumbent president of the Fifth Republic not to seek re-election.

François Fillon of the Republicans (LR), after winning the party's first open primary, and Marine Le Pen of the National Front led first-round opinion polls in November 2016 and mid-January 2017. Polls tightened considerably by late January, and after the publication of revelations that Fillon employed family members in possibly fictitious jobs in a series of politico-financial affairs that came to be colloquially known as "Penelopegate", Macron overtook Fillon to place consistently second in first-round polling. At the same time, Benoît Hamon won the Socialist primary, entering fourth place in the polls. After strong debate performances, Jean-Luc Mélenchon of la France Insoumise rose significantly in polls in late March, overtaking Hamon to place just below Fillon.