Incumbent French President Emmanuel Macron leads right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen by less than 3% in the first round of elections, 90% of votes count shows.

The next two weeks will be very difficult for both candidates, who could not run a full-fledged campaign, says Tara Varma, senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, head of the ECFR branch in Paris.

“Two programming platforms will be presented with very different views on European and foreign policy and further implications for European sovereignty, NATO membership, migration,” the expert notes.

Macron announced several priorities for his foreign and domestic policy in the event of re-election as president:.

support and development of science, technology, army, agriculture;

improving the welfare of citizens, education, medicine, pensions;

climate change, environmental planning.

secularism, the fight against Islamic separatism.

" A strong European country that believes in the union of democracies, humanism and the spirit of Enlightenment says no to populists and xenophobes,"

Marine Le Pen emphasized that the choice on April 24 (the second round of elections - ed.. ) will be behind " She also introduced part of the program, mainly domestic priorities..

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Le Pen's left-leaning speech challenges Macron on issues that have proved difficult for him, especially against the backdrop of the Yellow Vests movement..

Republicans (5%) and Socialists with 4.8% and 1.8% failed to overcome the 5% threshold for campaign reimbursement.

“A total reconfiguration of French politics is coming. It started in 2017, but will now be completed,” the expert believes..

'Republican Front' against far-right appears to have revived, Varma believes. Almost all candidates called on voters in the second round to vote either for Macron or against Marine Le Pen. Jean-Luc Melenchon urged voters to 'not give a single vote to Marine Le Pen'. Only right-wing Gaullists Eric Zemmour and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan asked voters to vote for Le Pen.

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The election race in France has riveted the eyes of millions of people around the world.

Particularly concerned about the growing support for Russian-loyal Marine Le Pen in the United States.

Le Pen's victory will lead to the biggest crisis in the European Union since Brexit, wrote Politico. And it can destabilize the Western coalition against the Kremlin.

Political stability may be threatened not only in NATO, but also in the EU. For Ukraine, Le Pen's victory could threaten to end France's support on the diplomatic front and halt the supply of military aid..